Eski fotoğraflara bakarken içimde tarifsiz bir hüzün oluştu.

I felt an indescribable sadness inside when I looked at old photos.

Breakdown of Eski fotoğraflara bakarken içimde tarifsiz bir hüzün oluştu.

• bir: a
• benim: my
• eski: old
• fotoğraf: the photo
• iç: the inside
• oluşmak: to arise
• -ken: while
• -lara: to
• hüzün: the sadness
• bakmak: to look at
• tarifsiz: indescribable

Questions & Answers about Eski fotoğraflara bakarken içimde tarifsiz bir hüzün oluştu.

Why is eski fotoğraflara used instead of eski fotoğrafları or eski fotoğraflarda?

In Turkish, the verb bakmak (“to look”) requires its object in the dative case (–a/–e). So you say fotoğrafa bakmak (“to look at the photo”), not fotoğrafı (accusative) or fotoğrafta (locative). Here eski fotoğraflara is simply the plural dative: eski fotoğraf + –lar (plural) + –a (dative).

What does the suffix –ken in bakarken indicate?

The suffix –ken turns a verb into an adverbial participle meaning “while doing X.” Thus bakarken = “while looking.” It lets you link two actions in time without a separate conjunction.

Why is içimde in the locative case, and how is it formed?

içimde means “in me” or “inside me.” It’s formed as:

• iç (inside)
• • –im (my/1st person possessive)
• • –de (locative “in/on/at”)
    = içimde (“in my inside”).

What does tarifsiz literally mean, and how is it built?

tarifsiz = tarif (“description/definition”) + –siz (“without”). So literally “without description,” i.e. “indescribable.”

Why is bir placed before hüzün?

Turkish uses bir as an indefinite article equivalent to English “a/an.” Here bir hüzün = “a sadness.” Without bir, hüzün would be understood more generally (“sadness” as a concept), not “a particular wave of sadness.”

Why is the verb oluştu used instead of something like hissettim?

oluşmak means “to form, to arise” and emphasizes that the sadness took shape or came into existence inside the speaker. hissettim (“I felt”) is also possible—eski fotoğraflara bakarken içimde tarifsiz bir hüzün hissettim—but that simply states the feeling. oluştu adds nuance: the emotion emerged organically, almost unexpectedly.

Could the word order be rearranged, for example starting with Bakarken eski fotoğraflara?

Turkish typically places subordinate or adverbial clauses before the main clause. Eski fotoğraflara bakarken (while looking at old photos) leads smoothly into içimde tarifsiz bir hüzün oluştu (a boundless sadness arose in me). Shifting bakarken to the front without its object sounds unnatural—Turkish expects the full participle phrase first, then the main verb.