Öğretmen ödevi bugün teslim etmemi istedi.

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Breakdown of Öğretmen ödevi bugün teslim etmemi istedi.

• öğretmen: the teacher
• ödev: the homework
• teslim etmek: to submit

Questions & Answers about Öğretmen ödevi bugün teslim etmemi istedi.

What does the ending in teslim etmemi express, and how is it built?

It’s a nominalized verb phrase meaning “my submitting (it).” Morphology:

• teslim et- = to submit/hand in (light verb: noun + etmek)
• -me = verbal noun suffix (“submitting”)
• -m = 1st person singular possessive (“my”)
• -i = accusative case (marks the whole clause as the object of istedi)

So teslim et-me-m-i = “(that) I submit (it).” In Turkish, “that”-clauses after verbs like “want” are usually formed this way.

Why is ödevi in the accusative (-i) instead of just ödev?

Because it’s the direct object inside the subordinate clause and it’s definite (“the homework”). In Turkish, definite direct objects take accusative:

• Definite: ödevi teslim etmek = to submit the homework
• Indefinite: ödev teslim etmek = to submit homework (some/unspecified)

Here it’s clearly “the homework,” so ödevi.

Where is the “me” in the sentence? Why isn’t there beni?

The “me” is encoded by the 1st-person possessive on the nominalized verb: etme-m (“my submitting”). You don’t use beni here because the object of “want” is the whole clause teslim etmemi, not the pronoun “me” by itself.

Can I add benim or benden? What’s the difference?