Eniştem yeğenime küçük bir oyuncak aldı, çocuk da ona sarılmadan edemedi.

Eniştem means my brother-in-law.

Breakdown:

• enişte = brother-in-law
• -m = my

So:

• eniştem = my brother-in-law

In Turkish, family words often take possessive endings like this:

• ablam = my older sister
• amcam = my uncle
• teyzem = my aunt

A small cultural note: enişte is a specific kinship term in Turkish, but in many learner contexts it is translated simply as brother-in-law.

Yeğenime means to my niece/nephew.

Breakdown:

• yeğen = niece / nephew
• -im = my
• -e = to (dative case)

So:

• yeğenim = my niece/nephew
• yeğenime = to my niece/nephew

This -e / -a ending is very common in Turkish when the verb requires the sense of to.

Here, it fits with the idea of buying something for someone:

• Birine bir şey almak = to buy something for someone

Yes. Yeğen is gender-neutral and can mean either niece or nephew.

Turkish often does not mark gender in nouns and pronouns unless it is specifically stated. So from yeğenime alone, you cannot know whether it is a niece or a nephew.

The same is true for ona later in the sentence:

• it can mean to him, to her, or sometimes to it, depending on context.

Because oyuncak here is an indefinite direct object: a small toy.

Breakdown:

• küçük = small
• bir = a / one
• oyuncak = toy

So:

• küçük bir oyuncak aldı = he bought a small toy

In Turkish, indefinite direct objects usually do not take the accusative ending.

Compare:

• küçük bir oyuncak aldı = he bought a small toy
• oyuncağı aldı = he bought the toy / that specific toy

So the lack of accusative here helps show that it is not a specific previously known toy, just a small toy.

Yes, it is a very natural Turkish word order.

A rough structure is:

• Eniştem = subject
• yeğenime = indirect object (for/to my niece/nephew)
• küçük bir oyuncak = direct object
• aldı = verb

Turkish often puts the verb at the end. That is one of the most important differences from English.

So while English says:

• My brother-in-law bought my niece/nephew a small toy

Turkish naturally says something closer to:

• My brother-in-law to my niece/nephew a small toy bought

Word order can sometimes shift for emphasis, but the verb-final pattern is very common.

Aldı means bought or took, depending on context. Here it means bought.

It comes from:

• almak = to take / buy
• aldı = he/she took / bought

Why aldı and not something more like aldi?

• Turkish uses vowel harmony and sound changes.
• The verb stem is al-
• Past tense is -dı / -di / -du / -dü (with variations)
• So al-dı becomes aldı

Turkish does not need a separate word for he or she here. The form aldı can mean:

• he bought
• she bought
• it bought

The subject is understood from context or from the noun given earlier: eniştem.

Here, da means something like too, also, or sometimes just adds a sense similar to and in context.

So:

• çocuk da = the child too / and the child

In this sentence, it helps connect the second clause to the first:

• Eniştem ... oyuncak aldı, çocuk da ... edemedi.
• My brother-in-law bought ... a toy, and the child too ...

Important spelling point:

• This da is written separately
• It is different from the locative ending -de / -da, which is written attached

Compare:

• çocuk da = the child too
• çocukta = on the child / in the child / at the child, depending on context

Because sarılmak takes the dative case in Turkish.

So you say:

• birine sarılmak = to hug someone

That is why the sentence has:

• ona = to him/her not a direct object form.

Breakdown:

• o = he / she / it
• ona = to him / to her / to it

This is a very common thing to learn in Turkish: many verbs require a specific case that may not match English.

Examples:

• sana baktı = he looked at you
• bana yardım etti = he helped me
• ona sarıldı = he hugged him/her

Even though English says hug someone, Turkish says something closer to hug to someone.

Sarılmadan edemedi means he/she couldn’t help hugging him/her.

This is a very common Turkish pattern:

• -meden / -madan edememek = cannot help doing something = cannot refrain from doing something

So:

• sarılmadan = without hugging
• edemedi = could not do

Very literally, it is something like:

• He/she could not manage without hugging him/her

But the natural English meaning is:

• He/she couldn’t help hugging him/her

This pattern often feels strange to English speakers because it uses a negative-looking structure to express an irresistible action.

More examples:

• Gülmeden edemedim. = I couldn’t help laughing.
• Sormadan edemedi. = He/She couldn’t help asking.
• Bakmadan edemem. = I can’t help looking.

Because the structure is idiomatic.

The first part:

• sarılmadan = without hugging

The second part:

• edemedi = could not do / could not manage

Together, the idea is:

• he/she couldn’t manage not to hug
• in smoother English: he/she couldn’t help hugging

So the sentence is not actually saying the child didn’t hug. It is saying the opposite: the child ended up hugging because they could not resist doing it.

This is one of those patterns that is best learned as a chunk:

• X-meden edememek = to be unable to help X-ing

In context, çocuk most naturally refers to the yeğen mentioned earlier.

So the idea is:

• My brother-in-law bought my niece/nephew a small toy, and the child couldn’t help hugging him.

Since yeğen can refer to a young family member and çocuk means child/kid, the second clause is identifying or restating that person as the child.

Turkish often does this kind of restatement naturally.

Most naturally, ona refers to eniştem.

So:

• çocuk da ona sarılmadan edemedi = the child couldn’t help hugging him

That makes the full meaning:

• the brother-in-law bought the child a toy
• the child was so happy or affectionate that he/she hugged him

Could ona refer to something else in another context? In theory, pronouns can sometimes be ambiguous in Turkish, but in this sentence the most natural reading is the child hugged the brother-in-law.

Because Turkish verbs do not mark gender, and the third-person singular often works without an explicit subject pronoun.

So:

• aldı = he bought / she bought
• edemedi = he couldn’t / she couldn’t

Turkish o can mean:

• he
• she
• it

Usually, context tells you who is meant.

In this sentence:

• Eniştem ... aldı tells you the subject of the first clause
• çocuk da ... edemedi tells you the subject of the second clause

So separate pronouns are unnecessary.

Yes.

A more literal translation:

• My brother-in-law bought a small toy for my niece/nephew; the child, too, could not refrain from hugging him.

A more natural English translation:

• My brother-in-law bought my niece/nephew a small toy, and the child couldn’t help hugging him.

The natural translation is usually better for understanding the overall meaning, but the literal one helps show how the Turkish grammar works.