Learn Hardcore Turkish: Toplantı salonu doluydu, biz koridorda bekledik. - The meeting room was full; we waited in the corridor.

It’s a noun–noun compound (isim tamlaması) meaning “meeting room.” In such compounds, the modifier (here, toplantı) stays bare, and the head noun (salon) takes the 3rd-person possessive ending.

toplantı + salon + (3rd poss -u) → toplantı salonu = meeting room (a type of room)
toplantının salonu = the hall of the (specific) meeting (actual possession/association with that particular meeting)

Why is it salonu and not just salon?

Because Turkish noun compounds require the head noun to take the 3rd-person possessive marker. Without it, toplantı salon is ungrammatical. Vowel harmony picks -u here since the last vowel in salon is back (o): salon + u → salonu.

Where is “the” in Turkish? How do we know it’s “the meeting room”?

Turkish has no articles. Definiteness comes from context. Toplantı salonu can mean “a/the meeting room.” In a narrative like this, it’s understood as “the meeting room.”

What exactly is doluydu made of?

dolu = full (adjective)
idi = was (past copula) They fuse: dolu + (y)di → doluydu. The buffer y prevents a vowel clash, and vowel harmony gives the right -ydı/ydi/ydü/ydu form.

Can I write dolu idi instead of doluydu?

Yes. dolu idi is correct but looks formal or old-fashioned. In modern writing/speech, the fused form doluydu is more natural.

Why is it doluydu and not doluydi?

Because of 4-way vowel harmony in the copular past:

last vowel back and unrounded (a/ı) → -ydı
front and unrounded (e/i) → -ydi
front and rounded (ö/ü) → -ydü
back and rounded (o/u) → -ydu Since dolu ends with u, you get doluydu.

What’s the difference between doluydu and doldu?

doluydu = “was full” (a state)
doldu = “became/filled up” (a change-of-state event) Example: Saat 9’da salon doldu (It became full at 9). Saat 9’da salon doluydu (At 9, it was already full).

Is joining the two clauses with a comma okay in Turkish?

Yes. Turkish often links short independent clauses with a comma. Alternatives:

Toplantı salonu doluydu ve koridorda bekledik.
Toplantı salonu doluydu; koridorda bekledik.
Toplantı salonu doluydu, bu yüzden koridorda bekledik.

Could I write Toplantı salonu doluydu ve koridorda bekledik?

Yes. That’s fine and common. You can also add causality: … ve bu yüzden koridorda bekledik (“and therefore we waited …”).

Do I need the pronoun biz? Can I just say Koridorda bekledik?

You can drop biz. The verb ending -k already marks 1st person plural. Biz is used for emphasis or contrast (e.g., “we (as opposed to others) waited in the corridor”).

What does the -da in koridorda mean, and why -da (not -de or -ta/-te)?

It’s the locative case “in/at/on.” Choice:

Front vs. back vowel harmony: after a back vowel (a, ı, o, u) → -da; after a front vowel (e, i, ö, ü) → -de. koridor has back o, so -da.
Voicing: after a voiceless consonant (p, ç, t, k, f, h, s, ş) you use -ta/-te. koridor ends in voiced r, so -da.

How is bekledik built, and what does it tell me?

bekle- (wait) + -di (simple past) + -k (1st person plural) → bekledik = “we waited.” It encodes both tense and subject, so the pronoun biz is optional.

Could I use bekliyorduk instead of bekledik?

Yes, but meaning shifts:

bekledik = simple past (completed event).
bekliyorduk = past continuous (“we were waiting”), focusing on the ongoing nature at that time. Both can fit depending on context.

Why isn’t it doluyduk in the first clause if biz appears later?

Each clause has its own subject:

Clause 1 subject = Toplantı salonu (3rd singular) → doluydu
Clause 2 subject = (biz) (1st plural) → bekledik

Can I omit biz and write Toplantı salonu doluydu, koridorda bekledik?

Yes. That’s natural and often preferred unless you want to emphasize we.

Is there any difference between toplantı salonu and toplantı odası?

Both can mean “meeting room,” but:

toplantı odası ≈ a smaller room
toplantı salonu ≈ a larger hall Use depends on the venue and local preference.

Why no apostrophe before the case ending in koridorda?

Apostrophes are used before suffixes only with proper nouns (e.g., Ankara’da). Common nouns like koridor take suffixes without an apostrophe: koridorda.

How do I pronounce the dotless ı in Toplantı?

Turkish ı is a close back unrounded vowel, somewhat like the second vowel in English “roses” for many speakers. So Toplantı sounds like “top-lahn-tuh,” with a very short, unstressed final -tı.