Learn Hardcore Turkish: Çatımızı boyacıya temizletip boyattık; ev tertemiz görünüyor. - We had the painter clean and paint our roof; the house looks spotless.

It’s çatı (roof) + -ımız (our, 1st person plural possessive) + -ı (accusative case). So çatımız = our roof; çatımızı = our roof (as a definite direct object).

Why is çatımızı in the accusative case?

Because it’s a specific, definite direct object of the action we caused (cleaning/painting). In Turkish, definite direct objects take the accusative. If it were indefinite/non-specific, you’d omit the accusative, but here “our roof” is clearly definite.

Why is boyacıya in the dative (-a/-e) case?

With causative verbs, the person you make/let do the action (the “causee”) is marked with dative:

Ali’ye evi temizlettim = I made Ali clean the house. So boyacıya means “to the painter,” i.e., we had the painter do it.

Could we use tarafından instead of -ya for the agent?

Not with a causative. -ya/-e marks the causee in causatives. Tarafından is the usual agent marker in the passive:

Causative: Çatımızı boyacıya temizletip boyattık.
Passive: Çatımız boyacı tarafından temizlenip boyandı.

What does the causative suffix -t- do in temizletip and boyattık?

It means “to have/make someone do X.”

temizlemek (to clean) → temizletmek (to have cleaned)
boyamak (to paint) → boyatmak (to have painted) So we caused someone (the painter) to perform these actions.

Why is only the last verb finite? What is -ip doing in temizletip?

-ip is a converb that links verbs (roughly “and (then)”). Only the last verb (boyattık) carries tense/person. The shared object (çatımızı) and causee (boyacıya) apply to both linked actions: we had the painter clean and (then) paint it.

Does -ip imply sequence (first cleaning, then painting)?

Typically, yes: V-ip V often implies a natural/chronological sequence. Here, cleaning before painting is the expected order.

How would meaning change if we said temizleyip boyattık instead of temizletip boyattık?

temizleyip boyattık = we cleaned it ourselves and then had it painted.
temizletip boyattık = we had someone clean it and also had someone paint it (the same painter here).

Could we omit boyacıya?

Yes: Çatımızı temizletip boyattık still means “we had our roof cleaned and painted,” but the doer is left implicit (“by someone”). Including boyacıya specifies it was the painter.

Why boyattık and not boyadık?

boyadık = we painted (we did it ourselves).
boyattık = we had it painted (someone else did it at our behest). Causative -t- makes that clear.

What exactly is inside boyattık and temizletip morphologically?

boyattık: boya- (paint) + -t (causative) + -tı (past) + -k (1pl) → “we had [it] painted.”
temizletip: temizle- (clean) + -t (causative) + -ip (converb) → “having had [it] cleaned.”

What’s the difference between görünmek and gözükmek in ev tertemiz görünüyor?

Both mean “to appear/look.” Görünmek is more standard/formal; gözükmek is very common in speech. Ev tertemiz görünüyor and Ev tertemiz gözüküyor are both acceptable.

What does tertemiz mean and how is it formed?

It’s an emphatic form of temiz (clean), meaning “spotless.” Turkish uses intensifying prefixes on some adjectives: tertemiz, masmavi, simsiyah, kupkuru, bomboş, kıpkırmızı, sapasağlam.

Could we drop görünüyor and just say Ev tertemiz?

Yes. Ev tertemiz = “The house is spotless.” Using görünüyor adds the nuance “looks/seems spotless” based on appearance.

Is the word order flexible? Could we say Boyacıya çatımızı temizletip boyattık?

Yes. Turkish allows scrambling for emphasis. Fronting boyacıya emphasizes the agent; fronting çatımızı emphasizes the object. The default remains S(ubject)-O-V, with subject (biz) omitted because it’s clear from -k.

Why a semicolon before ev tertemiz görünüyor? Could it be a period?

A semicolon links two closely related clauses more tightly than a period. A period would also be fine. A comma is less common here in careful writing because each side is an independent clause.

What’s the difference between boyacı and ressam?

boyacı = painter as a trade (paints houses/roofs, etc.).
ressam = artist who paints pictures. Here boyacı is the right word.