Learn Hardcore Turkish: Bugün ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek beni gerçekten mutlu ediyor. - Seeing how much we have progressed today really makes me happy.

ne kadar ilerlediğimizi ≈ “how much we have progressed / how far we’ve come”
Just ne ilerlediğimizi would be ungrammatical here; you need ne kadar to ask about the amount of progress.

How is the word ilerlediğimizi formed, and what does each part mean?

ilerlediğimizi is a complex form built from the verb ilerlemek (to progress, to advance):

ilerle- – verb stem (progress / advance)
-diğ- – nominalizing/participle suffix (-dik form, here becoming -diğ- for phonetic reasons)
-imiz – 1st person plural marker (we as the subject of the embedded clause)
-i – accusative case ending (-ı / -i / -u / -ü depending on vowel harmony)

So structurally:

ilerle- (progress)
- -diğ- (turns the verb into something like “the fact that … progressed”)
- -imiz (shows the subject of that embedded clause is we)
→ ilerlediğimiz = “that we (have) progressed”
- -i (accusative, because this whole clause is the object of görmek)
→ ilerlediğimizi = “(the fact) that we have progressed” as a direct object.

Altogether, ne kadar ilerlediğimizi = “how much we have progressed”.

Why is ilerlediğimizi in the accusative (-i) case?

Because it is the direct object of the verb görmek (to see).

The structure is:

ne kadar ilerlediğimizi – what is seen (object of görmek)
görmek – to see (verb, in infinitive form)

In Turkish, specific direct objects often take the -ı / -i / -u / -ü (accusative) ending.
Here, the “thing” you see is a whole clause (“how much we have progressed”), so that clause is marked as a specific object:

(Bizim) ne kadar ilerlediğimiz – how much we have progressed
ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek – to see how much we have progressed

That -i on ilerlediğimiz is the accusative marker required by görmek.

Why is there no separate biz (“we”) inside ne kadar ilerlediğimizi?

In Turkish, in embedded clauses like this, the subject is usually indicated by a suffix, not by a separate pronoun.

The -imiz part inside ilerlediğimiz already tells you the subject is we.
So biz is not needed here:
- ilerlediğimiz = “that we (have) progressed”
- If you added biz, biz ne kadar ilerlediğimizi would sound redundant or odd.

You could use biz for emphasis in a different position (for example, Bugün bizim ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek...) but the “we” meaning is already built into -imiz.

Why is görmek in the infinitive? What role does it play in the sentence?

görmek is the infinitive form (to see), and here it functions as a verbal noun, similar to “seeing” in English.

The overall structure is:

Bugün ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek
→ “Seeing how much we have progressed today”
→ This whole chunk is the subject of the sentence.
beni gerçekten mutlu ediyor
→ “really makes me happy”
→ This is the predicate (what the subject does).

So the grammatical subject of mutlu ediyor is the action görmek (“seeing X”), not a person. Turkish commonly uses -mek / -mak infinitives this way, like English “Doing X makes me Y.”

What is the grammatical subject and object of the whole sentence?

Breakdown:

Subject (what is doing the “making happy”):
Bugün ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek
→ “Seeing how much we have progressed today”
Object (who is being made happy):
beni
→ “me”
Predicate / Verb phrase:
gerçekten mutlu ediyor
→ “really makes (someone) happy”

So:

Subject: “Seeing how much we have progressed today”
Verb: “makes (happy)”
Object: “me”
Adverb: “really”

Why do we say beni and not just ben?

ben is the nominative (dictionary) form: “I”.

beni is the accusative form: “me” as a direct object.

The verb here is effectively mutlu etmek = “to make (someone) happy.”
This verb takes a direct object—the person you are making happy—so that person must be in the accusative case:

Ben mutluyum. – I am happy. (no object; ben is subject)
Bu beni mutlu ediyor. – This makes me happy. (beni is object)

In the sentence:

beni = “me” (object of mutlu etmek)
mutlu ediyor = “is making (someone) happy”

What does mutlu ediyor literally mean, and how is it different from just saying mutluyum?

Literally:

mutlu – “happy”
etmek – “to do / to make”
mutlu etmek – “to make (someone) happy”
mutlu ediyor – “(it) is making (someone) happy”

So:

mutluyum = “I am happy.” (describes your state)
Bu beni mutlu ediyor. = “This makes me happy.” (describes what causes that state)

In your sentence, mutlu ediyor is used because the action of seeing is what causes happiness:

Bugün ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek (seeing our progress today)
→ beni gerçekten mutlu ediyor (really makes me happy)

What is the role of gerçekten, and where can it be placed?

gerçekten means “really / truly / genuinely” and modifies mutlu ediyor (the whole idea of “making happy”).

In this sentence, it sits just before the verb phrase:

beni gerçekten mutlu ediyor
→ “really makes me happy”

You can move gerçekten a bit without changing the meaning much, for example:

Bugün ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek beni mutlu gerçekten ediyor. – unnatural
Bugün ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek gerçekten beni mutlu ediyor. – natural, with slight emphasis on beni
Gerçekten bugün ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek beni mutlu ediyor. – more emphasis on gerçekten and bugün

Most natural is what you have: beni gerçekten mutlu ediyor or gerçekten beni mutlu ediyor.

Why is the verb form ediyor and not something like etti or edecek?

ediyor is the present continuous form of etmek (“to do / to make”):

etmek – to do / to make
ediyor – is doing / is making

Here, ediyor shows that this is a current, general or habitual feeling:

“(It) really makes me happy” (now, around now, or whenever it happens)

Other possibilities:

mutlu etti – “made (me) happy” (past, a completed event)
mutlu edecek – “will make (me) happy” (future)

So mutlu ediyor fits because we’re talking about what is currently (or generally) making the speaker happy.

Can the word order be changed? For example, can I say Bugün ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek gerçekten beni mutlu ediyor?

Yes. Turkish word order is quite flexible, and both of these are natural:

Bugün ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek beni gerçekten mutlu ediyor.
Bugün ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek gerçekten beni mutlu ediyor.

They mean essentially the same thing. The differences are about emphasis:

In (1), beni comes earlier, and gerçekten is right before the verb, slightly emphasizing the degree of happiness (really).
In (2), gerçekten comes right after the subject phrase, and beni is closer to the verb, which can put a bit more focus on me as the one being made happy.

The most important rule: the finite verb (mutlu ediyor) usually goes at or near the end of the sentence; other items can move around it for nuance.

What tense/time nuance does ilerlediğimizi have? Does it mean past, present, or present perfect?

ilerlediğimizi is based on the simple past stem (ilerledik = “we progressed”), but inside this construction it often corresponds to English present perfect:

ne kadar ilerlediğimizi ≈ “how much we have progressed (up to now) / how far we’ve come”

In Turkish, the -dik / -diğ- nominalizing form with a past stem is used for “the fact that (something) has happened / has been done”, and the exact nuance (simple past vs present perfect) is determined by context, not by extra endings.

Here, with bugün and with the idea of “our progress up to this point today,” an English speaker would usually understand it as present perfect (“have progressed”), not as a one-off completed past event.

Can Bugün ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek stand alone as a phrase?

Yes. On its own, Bugün ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek means roughly:

“Seeing how much we have progressed today”
or “The act of seeing how much we have progressed today”

It’s a verbal noun phrase (an infinitive clause) and can be used as:

subject:
Bugün ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek beni mutlu ediyor.
object (of some other verb):
Bugün ne kadar ilerlediğimizi görmek istiyorum. – “I want to see how much we have progressed today.”

So it behaves very much like an English “-ing” phrase (“Seeing X ...”).