Breakdown of Üst üste hata yapınca ara verip sakinleştik.
yapmak
to make
hata
the mistake
sakinleşmek
to calm down
-ınca
when
Questions & Answers about Üst üste hata yapınca ara verip sakinleştik.
What does üst üste add here? Does it mean literally “on top of each other”?
- Literally it’s “on top of each other,” but with actions it means one after another, consecutively, repeatedly.
- It intensifies the idea of repetition: not just a mistake, but mistakes in a row.
- Common near-synonyms: peş peşe, art arda/ardı ardına, arka arkaya. Üst üste can also describe physical stacking, but here it’s about repeated actions.
Why is hata singular? Shouldn’t it be hatalar?
- Turkish often keeps the object singular when a word like üst üste, çok, defalarca already implies plurality.
- Üst üste hata yapmak is an idiomatic collocation.
- You can say üst üste hatalar yapınca to emphasize “many mistakes,” but it’s not necessary.
Why is there no -ı/-i accusative on hata?
- Hata is an indefinite direct object (not a specific, known set of mistakes), so it stays bare (no accusative).
- If you make it specific, you add accusative: aynı hataları üst üste yapınca… (“when we made the same mistakes…”).
How does -ınca/-ince work in yapınca?