Kervan çöldeki vahşi fırtınaya rağmen ilerlemeyi sürdürdü.

The caravan continued to advance despite the fierce storm in the desert.

Breakdown of Kervan çöldeki vahşi fırtınaya rağmen ilerlemeyi sürdürdü.

• rağmen: despite
• -de: in
• -ya: to
• fırtına: the storm

Questions & Answers about Kervan çöldeki vahşi fırtınaya rağmen ilerlemeyi sürdürdü.

What does the suffix -deki in çöldeki mean, and how is çöldeki formed?

• çöl = “desert” (noun)
• -de = locative case suffix (after front vowel “ö”) meaning “in”
• -ki = relative/adjectival suffix that turns the locative into “the one in…”
Putting them together, çöldeki literally means “the (thing) in the desert,” here modifying vahşi fırtına (“the wild storm”).

Why does fırtına take the dative ending -ya to become fırtınaya before rağmen?

The postposition rağmen (“despite”) requires the preceding noun phrase in the dative case. So you say fırtınaya rağmen = “despite the storm.”

What exactly does rağmen mean, and how do you use it?

• rağmen = “despite,” “in spite of”
• It always follows a noun in the dative: X + ya/ye + rağmen
• Example: Yağmura rağmen (“despite the rain”), Zamana rağmen (“despite time”).

Why is ilerlemeyi in the accusative case?