Breakdown of O çok öksürüyor, boğazını sıcak tutmalı.
o
that / he / she / it
çok
very
sıcak
hot
tutmak
to catch / to hold
boğaz
throat
öksürmek
to cough
Questions & Answers about O çok öksürüyor, boğazını sıcak tutmalı.
How does tutmalı translate to "he must keep"?
The verb root is tut (to hold/keep). We add the obligation suffix -malı to mean "must" or "should". Because the subject is "he" (o), there is no personal ending needed at the end. If it were "I must keep", it would be tutmalıyım.
Why are there two -ı suffixes at the end of boğazını?
The base word is boğaz (throat). The first -ı is the possessive suffix meaning "his" (boğazı = his throat). The second -ı is the accusative suffix, marking "his throat" as the specific direct object of the verb tutmalı. Whenever you add an accusative suffix right after a third-person possessive suffix, you must use the buffer letter -n- between them, giving us boğaz-ı-n-ı.
Doesn't sıcak usually mean "hot"? Can it mean "warm" too?
Yes! While sıcak often means "hot" (like sıcak çay for hot tea), in the context of staying cozy, wearing clothes, or body temperature, it translates naturally to "warm". The phrase sıcak tutmak is the standard Turkish way to say "to keep warm". The literal Turkish word for warm is ılık, but that is mostly used for lukewarm liquids or mild weather.
Where does the -ü- in öksürüyor come from?
When adding the present continuous suffix -yor to a verb root that ends in a consonant (öksür- from öksürmek), we need a connecting vowel. Following 4-way vowel harmony, the last vowel in the root (ü) dictates that this connecting vowel must also be -ü-, resulting in öksür-ü-yor.
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