Breakdown of Koşuda madalya aldı; çalışkanlığı herkesin hoşuna gitti.
almak
to get
koşu
the run
-da
in
herkesin
everyone's
Questions & Answers about Koşuda madalya aldı; çalışkanlığı herkesin hoşuna gitti.
Why is there a semicolon here? Could I use a comma or a period instead?
The semicolon links two closely related independent clauses. You could use a period instead with no real change in meaning. A comma by itself would be incorrect (it would create a comma splice). You could also use ve (and): Koşuda madalya aldı ve çalışkanlığı herkesin hoşuna gitti. The semicolon just keeps the two thoughts tightly connected without an explicit conjunction.
Whose diligence does çalışkanlığı refer to, and why does it end with -ı even though it’s the subject?
It means his/her diligence (the same person who got the medal). The ending -ı here is not accusative; it’s the 3rd‑person possessive suffix. Structure:
- çalışkan (hardworking) + -lık (noun-maker) → çalışkanlık (diligence)
- -(s)ı (3SG possessive) → çalışkanlığı (his/her diligence)
As the subject of gitti, it stays in the nominative, so there is no accusative marking. Don’t confuse it with çalışkanlığını (3SG.POSS + ACC), which would be an object form and would be wrong here.
How does the construction X, Y’nin hoşuna gitmek work?