Breakdown of Haberi duymuş ama bana söylememiş.
ben
I
söylemek
to say, to sing
ama
but
duymak
to hear
haber
news
Questions & Answers about Haberi duymuş ama bana söylememiş.
How is the negative built in söylememiş?
It combines the verb root söyle (tell), the negative suffix -me, and the inferential past tense suffix -miş. The negative suffix always comes right after the verb root and before the tense suffix. Here it gives the meaning 'apparently did not tell'.
Why does haber (news) have an -i at the end?
The -i is the specific direct object (accusative) ending. Because he heard the specific news, haber becomes haberi. If it were just 'news' in general, it would remain haber.
English says 'didn't tell me', so why does Turkish use bana (to me) instead of beni (me)?
In Turkish, the verb söylemek (to tell) requires the dative case (the 'to' direction) for the person receiving the information. You are literally saying 'did not tell to me'. The pronoun ben (I) changes irregularly to bana when taking this ending.
How do we know the subject is 'he' if there is no pronoun like o in the sentence?
In the inferential past tense, the third-person singular (he, she, or it) has no personal suffix. Since duymuş and söylememiş just end in the tense suffix, we know the subject is 'he', 'she', or 'it'.
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