Breakdown of Bugün trafik çok yoğun, bu yüzden gecikiyorum.
çok
very
bugün
today
trafik
traffic
yoğun
heavy / busy / intense (traffic, schedule)
Questions & Answers about Bugün trafik çok yoğun, bu yüzden gecikiyorum.
How exactly does bu yüzden mean 'that's why'?
Literally, bu means 'this' and yüzden means 'from the reason/cause' (from the root yüz, which can mean face, surface, or reason, plus the 'from' ending -den). Put together, it means 'because of this' or 'that's why'. Since this lesson is about consequence words, you could easily swap bu yüzden with bunun için or bu nedenle here without changing the meaning.
Why do we use yoğun to say the traffic is heavy?
In English, we say traffic is 'heavy', but in Turkish, we don't use the physical word for heavy (ağır). Instead, Turkish describes bad traffic as 'dense' or 'intense', which is the meaning of yoğun. Saying trafik yoğun is the most natural way to describe a traffic jam in Turkish.
Is the verb gecikiyorum related to the word geç (late)?
Yes, it is! The verb is gecikmek (to run late / to be delayed). It is built from the adjective geç (late) combined with a suffix that turns it into a verb (the 'ç' changes to a 'c' to make it easier to say). Here, it takes the present continuous suffix -iyor and the 'I' ending -um to form gecikiyorum (I am running late).