Word
Kapının sürgüsünü çek; gece böyle daha güvenli.
Meaning
Slide the door latch; it’s safer at night like this.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Kapının sürgüsünü çek; gece böyle daha güvenli.
olmak
to be
daha
more
kapı
the door
güvenli
safe
Questions & Answers about Kapının sürgüsünü çek; gece böyle daha güvenli.
What exactly is going on morphologically in Kapının sürgüsünü?
It’s a genitive–possessive compound used as a definite direct object, with case stacked on top:
- kapı-nın = of the door (GEN)
- sürgü-sü-nü = its bolt (3SG.POSS) + ACC So the whole NP means “the door’s bolt,” marked as a specific object of the verb.
Why does sürgüsünü take the accusative -i/-ı/-u/-ü?
Because it’s a specific, definite direct object. In Turkish:
- Indefinite object: no accusative. Example: Sürgü çek. = “Pull a bolt (some bolt).”
- Definite/specific object: accusative. Example: Sürgüyü çek. = “Pull the bolt.” With a specified possessor (kapının sürgüsü), the object is naturally specific, so you mark it: Kapının sürgüsünü çek.
Why are there buffer consonants -s- and -n- in sürgü-sü-nü?
- The 3rd person possessive is -(s)I; because sürgü ends in a vowel, you insert -s-: sürgü-sü.
- When you add a case suffix to a possessed noun, you insert -n- before the case: sürgü-sü-nü (ACC), sürgü-sü-ne (DAT), etc.
Could I just say Sürgüyü çek? Do I need ?