Questions & Answers about Peçete bitti; peçetesiz olsak bile sofrayı temiz tutabiliriz.
Turkish often uses a singular noun to talk about the availability of countable items. Peçete bitti means “We’ve run out of napkins,” even though napkins are plural in English.
- Also correct: Peçeteler bitti.
- Very natural alternatives: Peçete kalmadı. / Peçete yok. / Peçetemiz bitti. (the last one = “our napkins are gone”)
- bitti = “(it) is finished/ran out” (simple past, completed result now).
- bitiyor = “(it) is running out/is in the process of finishing.”
- bitmiş = “(it) has apparently/already finished” (reportative/evidential or result discovered).
-sIz (harmonic: -sız/-siz/-suz/-süz) means “without X.”
- peçete + siz → peçetesiz = “without napkins, napkin-less.”
- It forms adjectives but can describe a temporary state with olmak: peçetesiz olmak = “to be without napkins.”
- More examples: şekersiz çay (tea without sugar), internetsiz (without internet), parasız (penniless).
Yes. With adjectives/nouns, Turkish can either:
- Use the copular conditional directly: peçetesizsek (bile) = “even if we’re without napkins,” or
- Use the support verb ol-: peçetesiz olsak (bile). Both are correct; the ol- version can feel a touch more explicit/formal in some contexts.
bile means “even,” and it follows the word/phrase it emphasizes.
- peçetesiz olsak bile emphasizes the whole clause (“even if we are without napkins”).
- peçetesiz bile olsak emphasizes specifically being napkin-less (“even if [indeed] without napkins we were…”). Both are fine; the difference is slight and about focus.
It’s the accusative case -(y)ı/-(y)i/-(y)u/-(y)ü marking a definite direct object: sofra + -(y)ı → sofrayı.
- We’re talking about “the meal setup/table (this one)” as a specific object we’ll keep clean, so accusative is required.
- An indefinite object would not take accusative, but “keep a table clean” is not what’s meant here.
- sofra = the meal setting/spread (on a table or even on the floor). Collocations: sofrayı kurmak/kaldırmak (set/clear the table).
- masa = the physical piece of furniture. Both can work here depending on what you mean:
- Keeping the meal area tidy: sofrayı temiz tutmak.
- Keeping the tabletop clean: masayı temiz tutmak.
- temiz tutmak = “to keep clean” (maintain a state over time). Example: Ellerimizi temiz tutmalıyız.
- temizlemek = “to clean (up)” (an act of cleaning). Example: Masayı temizledik.
It’s ability/possibility.
- Morphology: tut-a-bil-ir-iz = stem “keep/hold” + potential -abil-
- aorist -ir
- 1PL -iz → “we can keep.”
- aorist -ir
- For permission you’d usually use context or a question: Tutabilir miyiz? = “May/Can we (is it allowed/possible)?”
- Negative: tutamayız (“we can’t keep”).
Default Turkish order is object-before-verb, and temiz tutmak is a set “result + verb” pairing.
- Canonical: Sofrayı temiz tutabiliriz.
- Temiz tutabiliriz sofrayı is possible for end-focus on sofrayı, but the canonical order is more neutral/natural here.
A semicolon just links two closely related independent clauses. You can also say:
- Peçete bitti, ama peçetesiz olsak bile sofrayı temiz tutabiliriz.
- Peçete bitti; yine de peçetesiz olsak bile sofrayı temiz tutabiliriz. A period would also work.
Both are common.
- Peçete bitti is neutral/impersonal (“Napkins ran out”).
- Peçetemiz bitti includes possession (“Our napkins ran out”), which can feel more contextually anchored if you’re talking about your table specifically.
-sA is the conditional, and here it’s a hypothetical about the present/future: “even if (we are) …”.
- Past counterfactual would be: peçetesiz olsaydık bile (“even if we had been without napkins, [we would/could have] …”).
-sA da means “even if/although,” and is often interchangeable with -sA bile. bile tends to add a bit more “even (surprisingly)” emphasis. Both are fine:
- Peçetesiz olsak da/bile sofrayı temiz tutabiliriz.
It’s the buffer consonant y used when adding a vowel-initial suffix (here, accusative -ı) to a vowel-final word:
- sofra + -ı → sofrayı Other examples: oda + -ı → odayı, hava + -ı → havayı.