Tehlikeli yoldan geçerken dikkatle adım atmak gerekir.

One must step carefully when crossing a dangerous road.

Breakdown of Tehlikeli yoldan geçerken dikkatle adım atmak gerekir.

• yol: the road
• geçmek: to cross
• tehlikeli: dangerous
• gerekmek: to be necessary

Questions & Answers about Tehlikeli yoldan geçerken dikkatle adım atmak gerekir.

What does the suffix -ken in geçerken do?

The -ken suffix attaches to a verb stem (in this case geç- “to pass/cross”) to form a present participle meaning “while doing X.” So geçerken means “while crossing.” It indicates two actions happen at the same time: crossing and stepping carefully.

Why is yol followed by the ablative suffix -dan (yoldan) instead of another case?

In Turkish, when you say you cross something, you use the ablative case to show the point of departure or the thing being crossed. Thus yoldan geçmek literally means “to pass from the road,” i.e. “to cross the road.”

What is dikkatle, and why not dikkatli?

• dikkatli is an adjective meaning “careful.”
• dikkatle is the corresponding adverb (adjective + -le) meaning “carefully.”
  Since it modifies the verb adım atmak (“to step”), you need the adverb dikkatle, not the adjective.

Why does the phrase use adım atmak instead of simply adım yapmak or yürümek?