Breakdown of Onu çocukluktan beri tanıyorum.
o
that / he / she / it
tanımak
to know (a person), to recognize
beri
since
çocukluk
childhood
Questions & Answers about Onu çocukluktan beri tanıyorum.
How does çocukluktan beri translate to "since childhood"?
The word for childhood is çocukluk. To say "since" a certain point in time, Turkish uses the ablative case suffix (-dan/-den) followed by the postposition beri. So, çocukluk becomes çocukluktan, and adding beri gives us "since childhood".
Why does çocukluk take the suffix -tan instead of -dan?
This is because of consonant harmony. The word çocukluk ends in k, which is a voiceless (hard) consonant. Because of this, the d in the -dan suffix hardens into a t to match, making it -tan.
The English translation says "I have known", so why does the Turkish sentence use the present continuous tense tanıyorum?
In English, we use the present perfect ("have known") for a state that started in the past and continues today. But in Turkish, if the state is still ongoing right now, you use the present continuous tense (-iyor). Since you still know the person today, you use tanıyorum.
Could I use biliyorum instead of tanıyorum to say "I know him"?
No, you have to use the verb tanımak here. In Turkish, bilmek means to know a fact or a piece of information. Tanımak is used for being acquainted with people. Since you are talking about knowing a person, tanıyorum is the right choice.
Why is the first word onu instead of just o?
Onu is the accusative (specific direct object) form of o (he/him). Because you are talking about a specific person that is receiving the action of the verb, the pronoun must take the accusative case suffix (-u). The n is a buffer letter between the two vowels: o + n + u.
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