Learn Hardcore Turkish: Bazen kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünsem bile, çalışmaya devam ediyorum. - Even if I sometimes think that nobody understands me, I keep studying.

In Turkish, when a verb is turned into a noun clause (with endings like -diğini, -eceğini, etc.), the subject of that clause normally takes genitive case, and the verb takes a possessive ending that agrees with it:

Ali’nin geldiğini biliyorum. – “I know that Ali came / is coming.”
Onun seni sevdiğini düşünüyorum. – “I think that he/she loves you.”

Here:

kimsenin = “of nobody” → genitive subject of the clause
anlamadığını = “(his/her) not understanding”

So kimsenin + anlamadığını literally works like “nobody’s not-understanding (me)”, i.e. “that nobody understands me.”

Is this a double negative? Why do we have kimsenin and also anlamadığını with a negative?

It looks like a double negative from an English point of view, but in Turkish this is the normal and required pattern.

Indefinite pronouns like kimse (“anyone / anyone at all”) must combine with a negated verb to give meanings like “nobody”, “nothing”, etc.:

Kimse gelmedi. – “Nobody came.”
Kimse beni anlamıyor. – “Nobody understands me.”

In your sentence, the same logic holds inside the noun clause:

kimsenin (of nobody)
beni anlamadığını (his/her not understanding me)

Together: kimsenin beni anlamadığını → “that nobody understands me.”
This is not considered a double negative in Turkish; it’s just the standard way to say “nobody …”.

How is anlamadığını built up morphologically?

Breakdown of anlamadığını:

anla- – verb stem “to understand”
-ma- – negative suffix → anlama- “not understand”
-dı- – past/“fact” marker used in nominalization → anlamadı-
-ğ- – buffer consonant (to connect vowels)
-ı – 3rd person singular possessive (“his/her/its”) → anlamadığı = “his/her not understanding”
-nı – accusative case (because the whole clause is the direct object of düşünmek)

So: anla-ma-dı-ğ-ı-nı → anlamadığını
Functionally, in this sentence it means “that (nobody) doesn’t understand (me)” even though the form contains -dı and looks past.

If anlamadığını has -dı- (past), why is it translated as “doesn’t understand” (present)?

For noun clauses like …dığını, the -dı part doesn’t always mean simple past in the way English does. It often marks something like “fact / reality from the speaker’s perspective”, and its time is interpreted relative to the main verb.

Compare:

Onun geldiğini biliyorum. – “I know that he comes / is coming / came.”
Onun gelmediğini biliyorum. – “I know that he doesn’t come / didn’t come.”

The tense of gel(diğini) is interpreted with biliyorum.

In your sentence:

kimsenin beni anlamadığını is a general/ongoing situation
main verb: düşünsem (“if I think / even when I think that …”)

So anlamadığını is correctly understood as “doesn’t understand” or “doesn’t understand me” in that mental context, even though it contains -dı.

Why is it beni and not ben?

Ben is the subject form “I”.
Beni is the accusative (object) form, “me” as a direct object.

The verb anlamak (“to understand”) takes a direct object in accusative:

Beni anlıyor. – “He/She understands me.”
Beni anlamıyor. – “He/She doesn’t understand me.”

So inside the clause beni anlamadığını, beni is the object of anlamamak, just like “me” in English.

Why is there no explicit “I” for “I keep working”? Why not ben çalışmaya devam ediyorum?

Turkish is a pro‑drop language: if the subject is clear from the verb ending, the pronoun is usually omitted.

(Ben) çalışıyorum. – “I am working.”
(Ben) devam ediyorum. – “I continue.”

In çalışmaya devam ediyorum, the ending -yorum already shows 1st person singular (“I”), so ben is not needed. You could say Ben çalışmaya devam ediyorum for emphasis on I, but the neutral, natural version drops ben.

What exactly does düşünsem bile mean, and why is the conditional -sem used instead of düşünüyorum?

Düşünsem bile literally means “even if I think”.

düşünsem = düşün-se-m → “if I think / even if I think” (1st person conditional)
bile = “even (though/if)”

So kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünsem bile = “even if I think that nobody understands me.”

Using -se/-sa here makes the situation hypothetical or concessive:
“Even in those moments / even in case I end up thinking that nobody understands me…”

If you said kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünüyorum, ama çalışmaya devam ediyorum, it would be more like a simple contrast: “I think nobody understands me, but I keep working.”
Düşünsem bile adds a nuance of “despite that (possible) thought” rather than stating it flatly as a permanent belief.

What is the difference between bile and de/da in this type of structure?

Both bile and de/da can appear in concessive clauses, but bile is stronger and specifically has the sense “even (though/if)”.

düşünsem bile – “even if I think” (stronger, more emphatic)
düşünsem de – “even if I think / though I think” (more neutral, often similar in meaning)

In many contexts they overlap:

Yorgun olsam bile çalışırım.
Yorgun olsam da çalışırım.

Both: “Even if I’m tired, I work.” (bile sounds a bit more emphatic.)

In your sentence, düşünsem bile emphasizes “even in that discouraging scenario” quite clearly.
You wouldn’t say düşünsem de bile – that’s not idiomatic.

Could we say düşünüyorsam bile instead of düşünsem bile? Would it change the meaning?

You could say düşünüyorsam bile, and it’s grammatical, but it sounds more like a specific conditional:

düşünüyorsam bile ≈ “even if (on those occasions when) I am thinking that…”

Düşünsem bile is more general and hypothetical, like “even if I (should) think / even if I happen to think”. It’s more idiomatic for expressing a general principle or attitude, which is what this sentence is doing. So düşünsem bile is the more natural choice here.

Why is it çalışmaya with -a, not çalışmak after devam ediyorum?

With devam etmek (“to continue”), Turkish normally uses a verb in the dative form (-a/-e) to say “continue doing X”:

Okumaya devam ediyorum. – “I keep reading.”
Konuşmaya devam etti. – “He/She went on talking.”
Çalışmaya devam ediyorum. – “I keep working / I continue to work.”

So the pattern is:

[verb stem] + -a/-e + devam etmek

Using çalışmak here (çalışmak devam ediyorum) would be incorrect. You need the -a/-e form (çalışmaya) after devam etmek.

Could we just say çalışıyorum instead of çalışmaya devam ediyorum? Is there a difference?

Yes, you could say çalışıyorum, but there is a meaning difference.

çalışıyorum – simply “I am working / I work.”
çalışmaya devam ediyorum – “I keep working / I continue to work,” with a nuance of persistence / not stopping.

Given the first part of the sentence (“even if I think nobody understands me”), çalışmaya devam ediyorum fits better, because it emphasizes that you keep going despite that discouraging thought. Çalışıyorum wouldn’t convey that sense of continuation in spite of something as clearly.

How flexible is the word order? Can I move bazen or the whole clause around?

Turkish word order is fairly flexible, especially for adverbs and subordinate clauses, as long as you keep chunks together and the main verb at or near the end.

Your original sentence:

Bazen kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünsem bile, çalışmaya devam ediyorum.

You could also say, for example:

Kimsenin beni anlamadığını bazen düşünsem bile, çalışmaya devam ediyorum.
Kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünsem bile, bazen çalışmaya devam ediyorum.

Each variant slightly shifts emphasis:

Bazen at the very beginning: overall “Sometimes, even if I think…”
Bazen near düşünsem: “Even if I sometimes think that nobody understands me…”
Bazen near çalışmaya devam ediyorum: “Even if I think that nobody understands me, I still / sometimes keep working.”

What you generally wouldn’t do is break up the internal structure, e.g. putting bazen in the middle of kimsenin beni anlamadığını or splitting çalışmaya from devam ediyorum.

Can you give a very literal, word‑by‑word gloss of the whole sentence?

Sure. Original:

Bazen kimsenin beni anlamadığını düşünsem bile, çalışmaya devam ediyorum.

Very literal breakdown:

Bazen – sometimes
kimsenin – of nobody / nobody’s (genitive)
beni – me (accusative)
anlamadığını – his/her-not-understanding-ACC
düşünsem – if-I-think / (even-)if I think
bile – even
çalışmaya – to-working (dative form of “work”)
devam ediyorum – I-am-continuing

A very literal rearrangement into English might be:

“Sometimes, even if I think that nobody is understanding me, I am continuing to work.”

Natural English:

“Sometimes, even if I think that nobody understands me, I keep working.”