Learn Hardcore Turkish: Aloe vera yetiştirmek su tutma özelliği nedeniyle kolaydır. - Growing aloe vera is easy because of its water‐retention quality.

Aloe vera yetiştirmek is the infinitive (gerund) form of the verb phrase “to grow aloe vera.” In Turkish, when you want to express “Doing X is easy/important/etc.,” you use the infinitive …mek/…mak as a noun. Here the whole phrase Aloe vera yetiştirmek functions as the subject: “To grow aloe vera is easy.”

Why doesn’t Aloe vera take the accusative suffix (like Aloe vera’yı) after yetiştirmek?

When you nominalize a verb with -mek/-mak, its internal objects often stay in the bare form without accusative marking. So Aloe vera yetiştirmek means “to grow aloe vera,” and you normally omit -yı/-yi on Aloe vera in such infinitive constructions.

How is su tutma formed, and what does it mean?

Breakdown of su tutma:

Su = “water”
Tut = verb root “to hold”
-ma = nominalizer that turns tut into a noun (“holding”)
So su tutma literally means “water-holding,” i.e. “water retention.”

What does su tutma özelliği nedeniyle mean, and how is it built?

Su tutma özelliği nedeniyle means “because of its water-retention feature.” Structurally:

su tutma (“water retention”)
özellik (“feature”)
-i = 3rd-person possessive suffix, “its feature”
nedeniyle = postposition “due to” (from neden “reason” + -i “its” + ile “with”)
Put together: “with the reason of its water-retaining feature” = “due to its water-retention property.”

Why does özellik take -i before nedeniyle?

Because nedeniyle literally means “with the reason of,” and that formula (neden + -i + ile) requires neden to be possessive (-i). When you replace neden with another noun like özellik, you still add -i to mark “its,” then attach nedeniyle.

What is the function of the suffix -dır in kolaydır?

The suffix -dır is the 3rd person singular copula for nominal predicates. It turns the adjective kolay (“easy”) into the full predicate “(it) is easy.” It also adds a neutral or formal tone. In casual speech you could simply say kolay.

Can you use a different postposition instead of nedeniyle, like yüzünden or sayesinde?

Yes.

yüzünden also means “because of,” but often carries a negative nuance (“because of X, something bad happened”).
sayesinde means “thanks to,” and highlights a positive reason.
So you could say su tutma özelliği sayesinde kolaydır (“It’s easy thanks to its water-retention feature”) to sound more positive.

Is the word order in this sentence fixed, or can you move the adverbial phrase around?

Turkish word order is flexible, but the predicate usually stays last. You could shift su tutma özelliği nedeniyle before or after Aloe vera yetiştirmek for emphasis, e.g.:

Su tutma özelliği nedeniyle Aloe vera yetiştirmek kolaydır.
Both are grammatical, though the original order places the emphasis on “growing aloe vera.”