Breakdown of Bugün randevumu iptal etmem gerek.
bugün
today
gerek
necessary
randevu
appointment
iptal etmek
to cancel
Questions & Answers about Bugün randevumu iptal etmem gerek.
How does iptal etmem gerek translate to "I need to cancel"?
In Turkish, to say you need to do something, you don't use a verb like 'need'. Instead, you turn the action into a noun and say 'my doing of it is necessary'. Here, iptal etme is the short verbal noun for 'canceling'. We add -m for 'my' to get iptal etmem (my canceling), and follow it with gerek (necessary). Literally: 'My canceling is necessary.'
Why is there an extra -u at the end of randevumu?
Randevum means 'my appointment'. The extra -u is the accusative case marker, which marks the specific direct object of the verb. Since you are canceling a specific appointment (your own), the action verb iptal etmek (to cancel) requires this marker to show exactly what is being canceled.
Why does the necessity grammar attach to etmem instead of iptal?
İptal etmek (to cancel) is a compound verb made of a noun (iptal, meaning 'cancellation') and a helper verb (etmek, 'to do'). When we add grammar rules to compound verbs, we always attach the suffixes to the helper verb. That is why etmek takes the short verbal noun and possessive suffixes to become etmem.
Could I use lazım instead of gerek in this sentence?