Doktor, tuzu biraz daha azaltman gerektiğini söyledi.

the salt

Breakdown of Doktor, tuzu biraz daha azaltman gerektiğini söyledi.

• daha: more
• biraz: a bit
• gerekmek: to be necessary

Questions & Answers about Doktor, tuzu biraz daha azaltman gerektiğini söyledi.

In azaltman, what does the ending -man mean? Is it a tense or a person ending?

-man here is not a tense marker; it’s a possessive ending on a verbal noun. Think of it as literally meaning “your reducing”.

Breakdown:

• azalt- = to reduce
• -ma = verbal noun suffix → azaltma = reducing / the act of reducing
• -n = 2nd person singular possessive (“your”)

So:

• azaltma-n → azaltman = your reducing / the fact that you reduce

It behaves like a noun phrase in Turkish and is the subject of gerekmek (“to be necessary”).

Compare:

• tuzu azaltmam gerekiyor = I have to reduce the salt
  (my reducing the salt is necessary)
• tuzu azaltman gerekiyor = You have to reduce the salt
  (your reducing the salt is necessary)
• tuzu azaltması gerekiyor = He/She has to reduce the salt
  (his/her reducing the salt is necessary)

In the sentence:

tuzu biraz daha azaltman gerektiğini …

azaltman tells us the subject is “you”, without needing the separate pronoun sen.

Why is it tuzu and not just tuz? What does the -u ending do?