Breakdown of Çeviri yaparken bilmediğim kelimeleri sözlükte arıyorum.
Questions & Answers about Çeviri yaparken bilmediğim kelimeleri sözlükte arıyorum.
Çeviri yaparken is built from:
- çeviri – translation
- yapmak – to do / to make
- -ken – while / when (doing something)
So çeviri yaparken literally means “while doing translation” or “while making a translation”.
In Turkish, many nouns form common expressions with yapmak (to do/make), for example:
- alışveriş yapmak – to shop (literally “to do shopping”)
- spor yapmak – to do sports / to exercise
- çeviri yapmak – to translate (literally “to do translation”)
So instead of a simple verb “to translate”, Turkish often uses çeviri yapmak.
The suffix -ken attaches to a verb and means “while ...ing / when ...ing”.
- yapmak – to do
- yaparken – while doing / when (I am) doing
So çeviri yaparken = “while I am doing translation / while translating.”
It doesn’t show person by itself; the subject (here “I”) is understood from the main verb arıyorum (“I am looking up”).
The difference is the accusative case:
- kelimeler – words (no case ending; can be a subject or an indefinite object)
- kelimeleri – words (accusative; definite direct object = “the words”)
In this sentence, you are talking about specific words within the text you’re translating: “the words I don’t know.”
Turkish marks a definite direct object with the accusative:
- Kitap okurum. – I read a book / (books in general).
- Kitabı okurum. – I read the book.
So bilmediğim kelimeleri means “the words that I don’t know.”
Bilmediğim comes from the verb bilmek (to know):
- bil- – know (verb root)
- bil-me- – not know (-me- is the negative marker)
- bil-me-di-k – the thing(s) that is/are not known (here -dik is a participle/nominalizer)
- bil-me-diğ-im – that which is not known by me (-im = 1st person singular)
So bilmediğim literally means “(the thing/word) that is not known by me” → “that I don’t know.”
This is a common way to form relative clauses in Turkish (like “that I … / which I …”).
Turkish usually does not use a separate word like “that” or “which” for relative clauses. Instead, it builds the relative meaning directly onto the verb using suffixes like -(y)An and -DIK.
So instead of:
- “the words that I don’t know”
Turkish says:
- bilmediğim kelimeler – literally “my-not-knowing words” or “the words which are not known by me.”
The -dik participle + personal ending on bilmediğim takes over the role of “that I”.
Turkish has relatively flexible word order, but the most typical order is:
[time/manner] – [object] – [place] – [verb]
Your sentence:
- Çeviri yaparken – while translating (time/manner)
- bilmediğim kelimeleri – the words I don’t know (object)
- sözlükte – in the dictionary (place)
- arıyorum – I am looking up (verb)
This follows the natural pattern: object (what?) → location (where?) → verb (do what?).
You could say çeviri yaparken sözlükte bilmediğim kelimeleri arıyorum, and it would still be correct, but the original order sounds more neutral and natural.
Sözlükte is sözlük (dictionary) + -te (locative case):
- sözlük – dictionary
- sözlükte – in the dictionary / at the dictionary
The locative case (-de / -da / -te / -ta) expresses being in, at, on something.
So sözlükte arıyorum literally = “I am searching in the dictionary.”
Different case = different meaning:
- sözlükte (locative) – in the dictionary (location where you search)
- sözlükten (ablative) – from the dictionary (from where something moves/comes)
Here the idea is:
- You search in the dictionary for a word → sözlükte arıyorum.
Sözlükten would suggest movement or taking something from the dictionary, which doesn’t fit the meaning “look up in the dictionary.”
Aramak basically means “to look for / to search.”
Its meaning depends on the object:
- birini aramak – to call someone (on the phone)
- anahtarları aramak – to look for the keys
- kelimeleri sözlükte aramak – to look up words in the dictionary
So sözlükte aramak is naturally interpreted as “to look up (something) in the dictionary.”
Arıyorum is present continuous: “I am (right now / generally) looking up.”
Ararım is aorist/simple present: often habitual or generic: “I (usually) look up.”
Both can be used for habits, but:
- Arıyorum in a context like this is very common for describing what you (typically) do in that situation. It can sound like a personal habit in the present time.
- Ararım would sound more like a general statement about your habit or character (“I (tend to) look up…”).
In everyday speech, using present continuous for habits in specific contexts is very normal.
Bilmediğim itself does not strictly fix the time as past or present; the exact time is often understood from context.
- Literally: “the words that are not known by me”
- Interpreted usually as: “the words I don’t know (now)”, while translating.
If you wanted to emphasize past (at some specific time), you would normally give that context elsewhere in the sentence:
- Dün okuduğum makalede bilmediğim kelimeleri sözlükte aradım.
– In the article I read yesterday, I looked up the words I didn’t know in the dictionary.
So bilmediğim is flexible; the time reference comes from the overall sentence.
You could say bilmediğim olan kelimeler, but it sounds unnecessary and a bit awkward in this context.
- bilmediğim kelimeler already means “the words that I don’t know.”
- olan (“that are”) is normally only added if needed for clarity or emphasis, or in some specific structures.
In most everyday sentences, Turkish prefers the shorter form without “olan”, so bilmediğim kelimeleri is the natural choice.
Yes, they all follow Turkish vowel harmony:
yaparken
- root: yap- (a)
- suffix: -ken (e)
For this particular suffix, the form -ken is fixed; the /e/ is standard here.
bilmediğim
- root: bil- (i)
- negative: -me- (e)
- participle: -dik → -diğ- (front vowel i → diğ; consonant softening)
- 1st person: -im (i)
All vowels are front (i, e, i, i), so they harmonize.
kelimeleri
- root: kelime (e – i – e)
- plural: -ler (front vowel set)
- accusative: -i (front vowel)
→ kelime-ler-i
You don’t need to calculate this each time, but it explains why suffixes change shape across different words (e.g., -de/-da, -i/-ı/-ü/-u, etc.).