Questions & Answers about Aşçının pişirdiği balık mükemmeldi.
How does pişirdiği mean 'that ... cooked'?
This uses the new object relative participle -dIk. It attaches to the verb root pişir- (cook) to turn it into a describing word. Then we add the possessive suffix -i (his/her) to show who did the cooking. Literally, it translates to 'his/her cooked'.
Why does aşçı have the -nın ending? Isn't the cook the one doing the cooking?
In Turkish relative clauses with -dIk, the person doing the action takes the genitive (possessive) ending. Because the verb becomes like a possessed noun, the subject becomes the 'owner' of that action. So aşçının pişirdiği balık literally translates to 'the cook's cooked fish'.
Why is there a ğ in pişirdiği?
The base participle suffix is -dIk (making 'pişirdik'). However, when we add the third-person possessive suffix -i (because 'the cook' is 'he/she'), the suffix starts with a vowel. This causes the k at the end of -dIk to soften into a ğ through consonant mutation, making it pişirdiği.
Why doesn't balık have the specific object ending (accusative case) if it is the fish that was cooked?
Even though the fish is the object of the cooking, it is the subject of the main sentence ('The fish... was perfect'). Subjects always stay in their bare dictionary form, so balık doesn't take an ending here.
How does mükemmeldi mean 'was perfect'?
To say 'was' with a noun or adjective, we attach the past tense suffix -di (following vowel harmony) directly to the end of the word. Mükemmel (perfect) has 'e' as its last vowel, so we use the front-vowel version -di, making it mükemmeldi.
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