Learn Hardcore Turkish: Emlak tapusunu imzalamak için geldiğim adresi tam olarak buldum. - I found exactly the address I came to in order to sign the property deed.

Emlak means “real estate” and tapu is “title deed.” Together emlak tapusu is a compound noun “property title deed.” Because imzalamak (“to sign”) is a transitive verb taking a definite object, Turkish adds the accusative suffix -(y)I to mark that object. With vowel harmony on tapu, that suffix appears as -unu, giving tapusunu meaning “the deed.”

What is the function of imzalamak için in the sentence?

imzalamak is the infinitive (“to sign”) of imzalamak and için means “for” or “in order to.” Together imzalamak için expresses purpose: “in order to sign.”

How is geldiğim formed, and what does it mean?

From the verb gelmek (“to come”):

-di turns it into a past participle (“came” → “the one who came”).
-ğim is the 1st-person singular marker inside that participle, showing “I” as the subject of “came.” So geldiğim literally means “that I came (to),” serving as a relative clause modifying adres.

Why is adresi written with -i, and not in its bare form?

Adres (“address”) here is a definite direct object of buldum (“I found”). In Turkish, definite objects take the accusative suffix -i, so adres + -i = adresi = “the address.”

What does tam olarak mean, and why use both words instead of just tam?

tam alone is an adjective meaning “complete” or “exact.” To turn it into the adverb “exactly,” Turkish often adds -olarak, so tam olarak means “exactly” or “precisely.” It modifies buldum to convey “I found exactly (that address).”

Why is there no explicit subject pronoun like ben in buldum?

Turkish is a pro-drop language: the verb ending carries the person/number information. Here -dum in buldum signals “I,” so saying ben (“I”) is optional and usually dropped.

Why do the purpose clause and the relative clause appear before the noun adres, rather than after it?

Turkish is a head-final language. Modifiers—relative clauses, purpose clauses, adjectives—always precede the noun they modify. So imzalamak için geldiğim (“that I came to in order to sign”) comes before adres.

Why is imzalamak için attached to geldiğim rather than to buldum?

The purpose (to sign) belongs to coming (i.e. the speaker came to that address for signing), not to finding. In Turkish, purpose phrases attach directly to the verb they modify, so imzalamak için modifies geldiğim, not buldum.

What’s the nuance between geldiğim adres and gittiğim adres?

Both are relative clauses modifying adres, but:

geldiğim adres = “the address that I came to” (emphasizing arrival from the speaker’s current perspective)
gittiğim adres = “the address that I went to” (focusing on the act of going). Here geldiğim fits better because the speaker has already arrived and then found the location.