Breakdown of Yaşlı adam sakalını ve bıyığını tarayıp gülümsüyor.
adam
man
yaşlı
old (people)
ve
and
gülümsemek
to smile
taramak
to comb
sakal
beard
bıyık
mustache
Questions & Answers about Yaşlı adam sakalını ve bıyığını tarayıp gülümsüyor.
How does the -ıp ending in tarayıp work in this sentence?
The -(y)ıp suffix is a handy way to connect two actions done by the same person in a sequence, meaning "does X and then does Y." Here, the verb stem tara- (to comb) gets the buffer -y- and the suffix -ıp. It links "combing" and "smiling" so you don't have to awkwardly say tarıyor ve gülümsüyor. The second verb (gülümsüyor) provides the tense (present continuous) and the person (he) for both actions.
Why does sakalını have two ı vowels at the end?
It is a combination of two different suffixes! The base word is sakal (beard). First, we add the possessive suffix -ı to make it "his beard" (sakalı). Next, because the beard is the specific object being combed, we need the accusative (direct object) suffix, which is another -ı. When adding a case ending to a third-person possessive suffix, Turkish requires the buffer letter -n-, resulting in sakal-ı-n-ı.
The word for mustache is bıyık, so why is it spelled bıyığını here?
This happens because of consonant mutation. When you add a suffix starting with a vowel (like the possessive -ı for "his") to a word ending in the letter k, that k almost always softens into a "soft g" (ğ). So, bıyık becomes bıyığı (his mustache), and then it gets the buffer -n- and accusative -ı just like the beard did.
The verb for "to smile" is gülümsemek. Why is it spelled gülümsüyor instead of gülümseyor?
This is due to a rule called vowel narrowing. Whenever you add the present continuous suffix -yor to a verb stem that ends in -a or -e (like gülümse-), that final vowel gets "squeezed" or narrowed into -ı, -i, -u, or -ü to match vowel harmony. Here, the -e turns into an -ü-, giving us gülümsüyor.
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