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Kız, şemsiyesini unuttuğundan koşarak eve döndü.

Kız, şemsiyesini unuttuğundan koşarak eve döndü.
The girl ran back home because she forgot her umbrella.
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Questions & Answers about Kız, şemsiyesini unuttuğundan koşarak eve döndü.

How is the word unuttuğundan formed morphologically, and why does it mean “because she forgot”?

It’s a nominalized verb plus case:

  • unut- (to forget)
    • -DIK (nominalizer/participle) → because the stem ends in a voiceless consonant t, the initial d of the suffix devoices: -tUk
  • → unuttuk
    • 3rd person possessive -u → the final k softens to ğ between vowels: unuttuğu (“that s/he forgot; his/her forgetting”)
    • ablative -DAn (“from, because of”) with buffer -n after a possessive: unuttuğundan

So unuttuğundan literally means “from her forgetting,” i.e., “because/since she forgot.”

Why is şemsiyesini both possessed and accusative?
  • şemsiye + -si + -ni = şemsiyesini
    • -si marks 3rd person possession: “her umbrella.”
    • -ni is the accusative case, because it’s the definite direct object of unutmak (“to forget”). You don’t need to add a separate pronoun like onun here; the possessor is understood to be the subject (the girl). If you changed the possessor, you’d indicate it explicitly (e.g., annesinin şemsiyesini).
How is cause expressed here, and how does -DIĞI için, -DIĞIndan, çünkü, and -den dolayı differ?
  • This sentence uses -DIĞI + (poss) + -ndan: unuttuğundan = “since/because she forgot.” Slightly formal or “as/since”-like in tone.
  • -DIĞI için is the most neutral: şemsiyesini unuttuğu için = “because she forgot her umbrella.”
  • çünkü takes a finite clause and typically comes after the result: Kız koşarak eve döndü, çünkü şemsiyesini unuttu.
  • -den dolayı / -den ötürü is heavier/formal: şemsiyesini unuttuğundan/dolayı. All can work; the choice is about style and clause structure.
What’s the difference between unuttuğundan and unutunca?
  • unuttuğundan = explicit cause (“because/since she forgot”).
  • unutunca = temporal trigger (“when/once she forgot” or “upon realizing she had forgotten”). It implies a time relation that often suggests a cause, but the form itself is “when,” not “because.” Both can fit here, but -DIĞIndan is unambiguously causal.
Where is the subject of the subordinate clause, and how would I show a different subject?

In -DIK nominalizations, the subject is:

  • Unexpressed when it’s the same as the main clause subject (control): here, the girl is the one who forgot.
  • Marked in the genitive if it’s different. For example:
    • “Because her mother forgot her umbrella, the girl ran home.” → Annesinin şemsiyesini unuttuğu için kız koşarak eve döndü. Here, annesinin is genitive, and unuttuğu has 3rd person possessive agreeing with that genitive subject.
What exactly does koşarak mean, and how is it different from koşup?
  • koşarak is the converb -(y)arak, expressing manner: “by running / runningly.” It says how she returned.
  • koşup is -(y)Ip, often linking sequential actions: “ran and (then) returned.” In this sentence, koşarak döndü emphasizes manner (she returned in a running way). Koşup döndü feels more like two steps in sequence.
Is eve döndü different from geri döndü or eve geri döndü?
  • dönmek already means “to return,” so geri (“back”) is optional emphasis.
  • eve döndü = “(she) returned home.”
  • geri döndü = “(she) returned (back),” without specifying where.
  • eve geri döndü = both place and emphasis; common in speech but a bit redundant stylistically.
Why is it eve and not evine?
  • eve (dative) often simply means “(to) home,” and commonly implies one’s own home by context.
  • evine adds a possessive: “to her house/home” explicitly. Both are possible; evine is more specific about whose home it is.
  • evi would be accusative (“her house”) and would not fit with dönmek (“to return to” needs dative).
Why does döndü use -dü and not -dı? What’s going on with vowel harmony?

Turkish suffix vowels harmonize with the stem. dön- has a front rounded vowel ö, so the past tense -DI surfaces as -dü (front, rounded). Similarly:

  • ev-e (dative) uses front -e because of front vowel e in ev.
  • unuttuğundan uses back vowels (u, a) because unut- is a back-vowel stem.
How is the letter ğ (soft g) in unuttuğundan pronounced?

It isn’t a hard “g.” It lengthens/smooths the preceding vowel and prevents a hard break:

  • unuttuğundan ≈ “unuttuu-ndan” (the u before ğ is slightly lengthened). ğ never starts a word and generally merges adjacent vowels or lengthens the prior one.
What about the comma after Kız? Is it necessary?

Writers often set off an initial subject or an intervening adverbial with commas for readability. You might also see both sides of the causal phrase comma’d:

  • Kız, şemsiyesini unuttuğundan, koşarak eve döndü. In practice, Turkish punctuation around such adverbials is flexible. If you move the causal clause to the front—very natural in Turkish—you’d use a comma after it:
  • Şemsiyesini unuttuğundan, kız koşarak eve döndü.
Can I drop the subject and change the word order?

Yes. Turkish allows subject drop and flexible order. All of these are acceptable with slight shifts in emphasis:

  • Şemsiyesini unuttuğundan, koşarak eve döndü. (Subject omitted; “she” understood.)
  • Kız, koşarak, şemsiyesini unuttuğundan eve döndü. (Adverbial moved.)
  • Şemsiyesini unuttuğu için kız koşarak eve döndü. (Using için.) The default preference is to place reason/time adverbials before the main verb phrase.