Breakdown of Herkes şaka yaptı ama patron ciddiydi.
yapmak
to do / to make
patron
boss
ama
but
herkes
everyone
ciddi
serious
şaka
joke
şaka yapmak
to joke, to play a joke
Questions & Answers about Herkes şaka yaptı ama patron ciddiydi.
Why does herkes take the singular verb yaptı instead of the plural yaptılar?
Just like the English word 'everyone', the Turkish pronoun herkes is grammatically singular. Even though it refers to a group of people, it takes the standard third-person singular verb ending.
Why is it şaka yaptı instead of bir şaka yaptı (made a joke)?
Şaka yapmak (to make a joke / to joke) acts as a fixed compound verb. When talking about the general action of joking rather than pointing out one specific, countable joke, Turkish usually drops the word bir (a/an).
What does the -y- do in the word ciddiydi?
The word ciddi (serious) ends in a vowel. Because the past tense suffix -di (was) is being attached to it, Turkish requires the buffer consonant -y- to link them together smoothly, giving us ciddiydi.
How come there is no word for 'was' before ciddiydi?
Turkish doesn't use a separate verb for 'to be' (am/is/are/was/were). To say someone 'was' something, you attach the past tense ending (like -di) directly to the noun or adjective itself. So, ciddi (serious) becomes ciddiydi (was serious).
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