Breakdown of Kirayı ödememiz lazım ama önce tamirciyi aramamız gerek.
aramak
to look for, to call
ödemek
to pay
önce
before / first / firstly
ama
but
lazım
necessary
gerek
necessary
tamirci
mechanic
kira
rent
Questions & Answers about Kirayı ödememiz lazım ama önce tamirciyi aramamız gerek.
Why does "we need to pay" translate as ödememiz lazım instead of using a regular "we" verb conjugation?
To express personal necessity, Turkish doesn't conjugate the verb directly. Instead, you turn the verb into a noun by adding -me or -ma (making it "paying"), add a possessive ending to show who is doing it (-miz for "our"), and follow it with a word meaning "necessary". So, ödememiz lazım literally means "our paying is necessary."
Is there a difference between lazım and gerek in this sentence?
In this context, there is no difference at all! Both mean "necessary" or "needed." The speaker likely used lazım in the first half and gerek in the second half just to avoid repeating the same word, which makes the sentence sound more natural.
Why do kira (rent) and tamirci (mechanic) have the endings -yı and -yi?
These are the definite accusative case endings. Even though the verbs are turned into verbal nouns (ödememiz and aramamız), they still take direct objects just like regular verbs. Because "the rent" and "the mechanic" are specific targets of the actions, they need the accusative case. Since both base words end in a vowel, they also take the buffer letter -y-.
Why do the verbal noun and possessive endings look slightly different on ödememiz compared to aramamız?
This is standard 2-way vowel harmony at work. The verb root öde- has front vowels, so it takes the front-vowel endings -me and -miz. The verb root ara- has back vowels, so it takes the back-vowel endings -ma and -mız.
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