Word
O adam kör, renkleri ayırt edemez.
Meaning
That man is blind, he cannot distinguish colors.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Questions & Answers about O adam kör, renkleri ayırt edemez.
How is the 'cannot' (inability) meaning formed in edemez?
The helper verb here is etmek (to do/make). The normal negative Aorist tense for 'he does not do' is etmez. To say 'cannot', we squeeze the inability suffix -e- right after the verb stem, which gives us edemez.
Why is edemez spelled with a 'd' instead of a 't' like in the base verb etmek?
When the verb stem et- gets a suffix starting with a vowel (in this case, our inability suffix -e-), the hard t softens into a d. You will see this consonant softening often with verbs like etmek and gitmek.
Why are there two words (ayırt and edemez) to say 'distinguish'?
Ayırt etmek is a compound verb. It is made of the noun ayırt (distinction or separation) and the helper verb etmek (to do/make). When conjugating compound verbs, you only ever attach your suffixes to the etmek part.
Why does the word for colors, renkleri, have the -i ending at the end?
The word is renkler (colors). The final -i is the accusative case, marking it as the direct object of the verb. Although English just says 'colors' in general, Turkish often treats an entire category as a specific, known group when it receives the action of a verb, much like saying 'the colors'.