Yağmur damlalarının sesi bana hafif bir hüzün hissettiriyor.

The sound of raindrops makes me feel a slight sadness.

Breakdown of Yağmur damlalarının sesi bana hafif bir hüzün hissettiriyor.

• bir: a
• bana: me
• hissettirmek: to make feel
• ses: the sound
• hafif: slight
• yağmur damlası: the raindrop
• hüzün: the sadness

Questions & Answers about Yağmur damlalarının sesi bana hafif bir hüzün hissettiriyor.

What cases and suffixes are used in yağmur damlalarının sesi?

This is a possessive/genitive construction:

• yağmur (“rain”) is a plain noun modifying damla.
• damla (“drop”) + -lar (plural) + -ın (genitive) ⇒ damlaların (“of the drops”).
• ses (“sound”) + -i (3rd person singular possessive) ⇒ sesi (“its sound”).
  Altogether yağmur damlalarının sesi means “the sound of the raindrops.”

Why is bana used here, and what case is it?

bana is the dative form of ben (“I/me”), meaning “to me.” In hissettirmek (to cause to feel), the experiencer is marked in the dative:
“the sound makes to me a slight sadness.” ⇒ sesi bana … hissettiriyor

What does hafif bir hüzün express, and why is hüzün unmarked?

• hafif = “light/slight,” bir = “a/an.” Together, “a light sadness.”
• In Turkish, indefinite direct objects (introduced by bir) do not take the accusative suffix.
  If you meant a specific sadness, you’d say o hüznü or simply hüznü with the accusative -ü.

Why is the verb hissettiriyor used instead of hissetiyor or hissediyorum?

• hissetmek = “to feel” (intransitive: I experience a feeling).
• hissettirmek = causative “to make someone feel” (transitive: something causes me to feel).
• hissediyorum would be “I am feeling,” but it doesn’t show an external cause.
  Here, the sound of rain is the cause ⇒ you need the causative hissettiriyor (“is making [me] feel”).

How is hissettiriyor built morphologically?

Breakdown:

1. hiss- = root “feel”
2. -et- = causative/denominalizer
3. -tir- = double-causative intensifier
4. -iyor = present continuous tense
   Result: hiss-et-tir-iyor ⇒ hissettiriyor “is causing to feel.”

Could we say hüzün hissediyorum instead?

You can say hüzün hissediyorum (“I’m feeling sadness”), focusing on your inner state. But if you want to express that the sound causes that sadness, you must use the causative: hüzün hissettiriyor.

Is it possible to drop bana in this sentence?

Yes. Turkish often omits the dative experiencer when context is clear:
Yağmur damlalarının sesi hafif bir hüzün hissettiriyor.
It still means “The sound of the raindrops is making (someone) feel a light sadness,” but without bana, “someone” is left implicit.