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Questions & Answers about Çatlak onarılmalı.
What do çatlak and onarılmalı mean individually?
çatlak means “crack.”
onarılmalı comes from onarılmak (“to be repaired”) plus the necessity suffix -malı, so it means “must be repaired.”
What does the suffix -malı express in onarılmalı?
The suffix -malı expresses necessity or obligation, equivalent to “must” or “should” in English. Here, onarılmalı literally means “(it) must be repaired.”
Is onarılmalı in the passive voice? How can I tell?
Yes. The element -ıl- (a variant of -in-, -un-, -ıl-) is the passive voice marker. So onar- (repair) + -ıl- (passive) + -malı (necessity) → onarılmalı (“must be repaired”).
Why isn’t there a personal ending on onarılmalı, and which person is implied?
When you add -malı/-meli without a further personal suffix, it expresses a general, third-person obligation. No explicit subject or person ending is needed—onarılmalı simply implies “it must be repaired,” without saying who does it.
Why doesn’t çatlak have a case ending like -ı or -e?
In passive constructions the subject appears in the nominative (unmarked) form. Since çatlak is the subject of the passive verb onarılmalı, it stays in its bare form.
Why is the verb placed at the end of the sentence?
Turkish follows Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) word order. All verb forms—including passive and modal suffixes—come at the very end, so Çatlak onarılmalı is the correct order.
How can I specify who should repair the crack?
Either switch to the active voice or add an agent in the passive:
• Active: Usta çatlağı onarmalı. (“The technician must repair the crack.”)
• Passive with agent: Çatlak ustalar tarafından onarılmalı. (“The crack must be repaired by the technicians.”)
How do I make it plural (“cracks must be repaired”)?
Pluralize the noun: Çatlaklar onarılmalı means “Cracks must be repaired.” The rest of the structure remains the same.