Breakdown of Emek harcadıkça emeğin değeri daha iyi anlaşılıyor.
iyi
good
daha
more
harcamak
to spend
değer
the value
anlaşılmak
to be understood
-dıkça
as
emek
the effort
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Questions & Answers about Emek harcadıkça emeğin değeri daha iyi anlaşılıyor.
What does the phrase emek harcamak mean?
emek harcamak literally means “to spend effort”, but it’s commonly used as “to put in effort/work” or “to labor.” Here harcamak doesn’t refer to spending money but to expending physical or mental effort.
How does the suffix -dıkça function in harcadıkça?
Suffix -dıkça attaches to a verb stem to form an adverbial clause meaning “as/when [you] …” or “the more [you] …”. So in harcadıkça you have harca- (root “expend”) + -dıkça, giving “as you expend (effort)” or more loosely “the more you work…”.
Why is there a d in harcadıkça instead of harcakça?
When you take harcamak (to expend), remove the -mak infinitive ending, you get harca-. Then you add the suffix -dıkça according to Turkish consonant/vowel harmony rules:
harca- + -dıkça → harcadıkça.
Why is emek repeated as emeğin in emeğin değeri?
The first emek is the noun object of harcamak (indefinite “effort”). The second is emeğin in the genitive (“of the effort”) showing possession. Together with değeri (“its value”), it means “the value of the effort.”
Why does değer take -i in değeri?
Turkish uses a genitive–possessive construction: a genitive possessor (emeğin) is followed by the possessed noun with a possessive suffix. Thus değer + -i → değeri.
What type of passive is anlaşılıyor, and why is it used here?
anlaşılıyor is the continuous passive form of anlamak (“to understand”). It’s an impersonal passive: the focus is on the fact that “the value is being understood”, without specifying who understands it.
Could this sentence be expressed in the active voice?
Yes. For example: “İnsanlar emek harcadıkça emeğin değerini daha iyi anlıyor.”
This means “People understand the value of effort better as they work.” The passive simply omits “people.”
What does daha iyi modify, and why is it placed before anlaşılıyor?
daha iyi means “better.” It’s an adverbial phrase modifying the verb anlaşılıyor. In Turkish, adverbial modifiers typically come directly before the verb they modify.
Can I replace emek harcadıkça with emek harcadığın zaman?
Yes.
“Emek harcadığın zaman emeğin değeri daha iyi anlaşılıyor.”
Here harcadığın zaman (“when you expend”) does the same job, but -dıkça is a more concise and idiomatic way to express “the more/ as you ….”