Toplantıyı ertelememiz gerekiyor.

We need to postpone the meeting.

Breakdown of Toplantıyı ertelememiz gerekiyor.

• gerekmek: to be necessary
• toplantı: the meeting
• ertelemek: to postpone

Questions & Answers about Toplantıyı ertelememiz gerekiyor.

What does the suffix in Toplantıyı mean?

The suffix -yı is the accusative case marker, showing that toplantı (meeting) is a specific/definite direct object. In Turkish, definite objects take the accusative:

• Toplantıyı erteledik. = We postponed the (specific) meeting. For an indefinite object, no accusative is used:
• Bir toplantı ertelememiz gerekiyor. = We need to postpone a meeting.

Why is there a y in Toplantıyı?

It’s a buffer consonant. When a noun ends in a vowel and the suffix starts with a vowel, Turkish inserts y to avoid two vowels meeting:

• toplantı + ı → toplantı-y-ı This happens with many vowel-initial suffixes: arabayı, okumaya, evimizde (here the suffix starts with a consonant, so no buffer).

What exactly is ertelememiz?

It’s a verbal noun (gerund) with a possessive suffix:

• ertele- (postpone) + -me (verbal noun) → erteleme (postponing)
• erteleme
  • -miz (our) → erteleme-miz = ertelememiz (our postponing) So the structure is literally “Our postponing the meeting is necessary.”

Is the in a negative marker?