Breakdown of Geçmiş önemli değil, bugünkü deneyim önemli.
değil
not
bugün
today
önemli
important
deneyim
experience
geçmiş
past
Questions & Answers about Geçmiş önemli değil, bugünkü deneyim önemli.
Why is the suffix -kü in bugünkü instead of -ki?
The suffix is almost always -ki and usually doesn't follow vowel harmony. However, words like bugün (today), dün (yesterday), and gün (day) are exceptions. Because they contain the rounded vowels ü or u, the suffix changes to -kü to make pronunciation easier, giving us bugünkü (today's).
If bugünkü means 'today's', why doesn't deneyim (experience) have a possessive suffix?
The suffix -ki turns a time word into a regular adjective. Because bugünkü is now an adjective describing the noun, they don't form a possessive noun compound. Just like you would say güzel deneyim (beautiful experience) without extra suffixes, you simply say bugünkü deneyim.
The word geçmiş looks like a verb with the -miş past tense. How is it being used here?
You are right that it comes from the verb geçmek (to pass) with the -miş suffix attached. Over time, it became a permanent noun meaning 'the past' (literally 'that which has passed'). Here, it acts as the subject of the first clause: 'The past is not important.'
There is no verb like 'is' at the end of bugünkü deneyim önemli. Is a word missing?
In everyday Turkish, the 'is' or 'are' meaning is often just implied by the context. While you could add the suffix -dir to make it önemlidir (which sounds more formal or absolute), simply ending the sentence with the adjective önemli is the most natural way to say 'it is important' in conversational Turkish.
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