Questions & Answers about Görüşmeyeli epey zaman oldu.
What does the ending -eli/-alı mean here?
- -(y)eli / -(y)alı attached to a verb means “since (doing/not doing) …”.
- It marks the starting point of a period that continues up to now.
- It’s typically paired with verbs like olmak or geçmek to say how much time has passed: e.g., Görüşmeyeli epey zaman oldu = “It’s been quite a while (since we haven’t met).”
Why is it negative (görüşmeyeli) instead of görüşeli?
- Both exist:
- Görüşeli = “since we met (last time)”
- Görüşmeyeli = “since we stopped meeting / since we haven’t been meeting”
- The negative form emphasizes that the action has not occurred during the whole period. It highlights the ongoing lack of meetings.
- In everyday speech, görüşeli and görüşmeyeli often overlap in meaning; görüşmeyeli slightly stresses the absence more.
Does this sentence imply we still haven’t met as of now?
- Yes. With -eli/-alı, the default reading is that the situation has continued up to the reference point (here: now).
- Görüşmeyeli implies “we still haven’t met in all that time.”
How is görüşmeyeli built morphologically? What’s the -y-?