Learn Hardcore Turkish: Kaza sonucu otobüs durdu. - As a result of the accident, the bus stopped.

Kaza means “accident,” and sonuç means “result.” When you attach the third-person possessive suffix -u to sonuç, you get sonucu, literally “its result.” The phrase kaza sonucu then functions as an adverbial meaning “as a result of the accident.”

Why doesn’t otobüs have any case ending here?

In Turkish, the subject of a sentence appears in the nominative case and takes no suffix. Since otobüs (“bus”) is the subject doing the stopping, it remains unmarked.

How is the verb durdu constructed, and what do its parts mean?

The verb root is dur- (“to stop”). The suffix -du is the simple past tense marker for third-person singular (he/she/it). Together, durdu means “it stopped.”

Can the word order change? For example, is Otobüs kaza sonucu durdu also correct?

Yes. Turkish is relatively flexible about word order because case endings show each word’s role. Putting Otobüs first doesn’t change the meaning. However, the verb durdu still tends to come at the end in neutral statements.

Could you use kaza nedeniyle instead of kaza sonucu?

Yes. Nedeniyle means “because of” or “due to.” So kaza nedeniyle otobüs durdu also means “the bus stopped due to the accident.” Nuance: kaza sonucu highlights “result,” while kaza nedeniyle highlights “cause.”

What if I want to say “because of the accident, the bus didn’t stop”?

You simply negate the verb: Kaza sonucu otobüs durmadı. Here -ma is the negation suffix, and -dı is the past tense marker: dur-ma-dı = “did not stop.”