Learn Turkish: "Bu metin çok zor" diye düşündüm. - I thought to myself, "This text is very difficult."

In Turkish, diye acts as a linking word to frame direct quotes, inner thoughts, and even reasons. Even though it literally translates as "saying," you must use it to quote what goes through someone's mind before verbs like düşünmek (to think), sormak (to ask), or merak etmek (to wonder). It essentially functions like spoken quotation marks.

Where exactly does the word diye come from grammatically?

It comes from the verb root de- (from demek, to say). To turn it into a linking word meaning "saying," Turkish adds the buffer letter -y- and the adverbial suffix -e. A vowel change occurs, shifting the first e to i, which gives us diye.

The translation says "I thought to myself", but where is "to myself" in the Turkish sentence?

It's not there! A literal translation of the Turkish is simply: "This text is very difficult" saying, I thought. In English, we often add "to myself" to sound natural when quoting our inner thoughts, but Turkish doesn't require an extra word like kendime (to myself) here. The context and the use of diye make it perfectly clear.

Could I put "diye düşündüm" before the quote, like "I thought, [quote]" in English?