Breakdown of O gelmezse, bir yedek planımız var.
bir
a / an
o
that / he / she / it
var
there is / existent
gelmek
to come
plan
plan
yedek
backup, spare
Questions & Answers about O gelmezse, bir yedek planımız var.
How does gelmezse break down to mean 'if he doesn't come'?
The verb stem is gel- (come). The -mez suffix is the negative aorist tense for 'he/she/it does not'. Finally, -se is the conditional 'if' suffix. Put together, gelmezse means 'if he doesn't come'.
Why use the aorist negative (-mez) here instead of the present continuous negative (-miyor)?
Conditional sentences about general possibilities or future events usually use the aorist tense in Turkish. Saying gelmiyorsa would mean 'if he isn't coming right now', while gelmezse is more like 'if he doesn't come (when the time comes)'.
Why does it say planımız var instead of using a direct verb for 'we have'?
Turkish doesn't have a common, direct verb for 'to have'. Instead, you use a possessive ending on the object, like planımız (our plan), followed by var (exists). Literally, this part means 'our backup plan exists'.
What does yedek mean here, and how does it fit into the sentence?
Yedek means 'spare' or 'backup'. In Turkish, you can often put one noun right in front of another to describe it, working just like an adjective. So yedek plan simply means 'backup plan'.
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