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Questions & Answers about Toplantı uzadı.
What does each word literally mean in “Toplantı uzadı.”?
- Toplantı = meeting, gathering. It’s a noun formed from the verb toplanmak (to gather/assemble) with the nominalizer -ntı/-nti.
- uzadı = it lengthened/ran long. From the intransitive verb uzamak (to get longer), with the simple past tense suffix -DI in 3rd person singular: uzadı.
Why is it “uzadı” and not “uzadi/uzadi̇/uzadu/uzadü”? What decides that final vowel?
Vowel harmony. The past tense suffix is written as -DI, which appears as -dı/-di/-du/-dü according to the last vowel of the stem:
- Last vowel is back unrounded (a/ı) → -dı: uzadı
- Front unrounded (e/i) → -di
- Back rounded (o/u) → -du
- Front rounded (ö/ü) → -dü
Also, D becomes t (tı/ti/tu/tü) after a voiceless consonant, but here the stem ends in a vowel, so it stays d.
How do I pronounce the ı in “Toplantı” and “uzadı”?
Turkish ı is a dotless vowel, like a close back unrounded sound [ɯ]. Roughly:
- Toplantı → [topˈlɑn.tɯ] (top-LAHN-tuh)
- uzadı → [uzaˈdɯ] (oo-ZAH-duh) Stress is typically on the last syllable in both.
Where is the subject pronoun “it”? Why isn’t it “It (o) the meeting ran long”?