Questions & Answers about Adam eski alışkanlıktan vazgeçti.
Why does alışkanlık have the -tan ending here?
In English, we simply "give up a habit." But in Turkish, the verb vazgeçmek (to give up) requires the object to be in the ablative case (the "from" case). You can think of it as "giving up from something." That is why we add the ablative ending to alışkanlık (habit).
Why is the ending -tan instead of the usual -dan?
The noun alışkanlık ends in k, which is a hard (voiceless) consonant. Because of consonant harmony rules, the d in the standard -dan suffix hardens into a t to match the hard consonant, becoming -tan.
Where does the verb vazgeçti come from?
It is the past tense form of vazgeçmek (to give up). This is a compound verb made of vaz (a borrowed word meaning to relinquish) and geçmek (to pass). They combine into a single word, and the past tense suffix -ti is added right at the end to make vazgeçti (gave up).
Why isn't the adjective eski (old) affected by the -tan suffix?