Breakdown of Uyuyana kadar ninni söyleyip onu sallaman lazım.
o
that / he / she / it
uyumak
to sleep
söylemek
to say, to sing
kadar
as ... as; until, up to
lazım
necessary
sallamak
to rock
ninni
lullaby
Questions & Answers about Uyuyana kadar ninni söyleyip onu sallaman lazım.
How does uyuyana kadar translate to "until he falls asleep", and where is the word for "he"?
The current lesson structure is verb + -(y)ana kadar or -(y)ene kadar, meaning "until doing the action". Here, uyu- (sleep) gets the buffer -y- and -ana kadar to make uyuyana kadar (until sleeping). There is no specific grammar marker for "he" inside this word; we understand who is falling asleep from the context of rocking him (onu).
What does the -yip ending in söyleyip do?
The suffix -(y)ip connects two verbs, acting like the word "and". Instead of repeating the necessity grammar twice like ninni söylemen ve onu sallaman lazım (you need to sing and you need to rock), you use söyleyip to smoothly link the singing directly to the rocking.
Why is it sallaman lazım instead of the dictionary form sallamak lazım?
Sallamak lazım means "it is necessary to rock" generally. To specify that you need to do it, we use the verbal noun sallama and add the "your" possessive ending -n. So sallaman lazım literally translates to "your rocking is necessary".
Why does the sentence use söyleyip (from söylemek, to say/tell) for a lullaby?
In Turkish, the verb söylemek is used for performing vocal music. Just as şarkı söylemek means "to sing a song", ninni söylemek is the standard way to say "to sing a lullaby".
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