Breakdown of Dünkü hayal sadece geçmiş.
dün
yesterday
sadece
only, just
geçmiş
past
hayal
dream (daydream, imagination)
Questions & Answers about Dünkü hayal sadece geçmiş.
Why is the suffix -kü in dünkü instead of the usual -ki?
The adjective-forming suffix -ki is special because it usually ignores vowel harmony, staying as -ki even after back vowels (like in yarınki - tomorrow's). However, there are a few exceptions! When added to the words dün (yesterday), bugün (today), and gün (day), it changes to -kü to match their rounded vowels.
Does hayal mean the kind of dream you have while sleeping?
No, hayal means "dream" in the sense of a daydream, your imagination, or a hope for the future. If you want to talk about the visual dreams you have while asleep in bed, you should use the word rüya.
I learned that -miş is a past tense verb suffix. Is geçmiş a verb here?
In this sentence, geçmiş is acting as a noun meaning "the past". It does come from the verb geçmek (to pass) combined with the -miş suffix, literally meaning "that which has passed". It is very commonly used as a noun, just like its opposite gelecek (the future), which comes from gelmek (to come).
Where is the verb in this sentence?
This is a present-tense "to be" sentence, and in Turkish, the word for "is" can simply be invisible. The sentence literally reads "Yesterday's dream [is] just the past." You could add the "to be" suffix -tir to the very end (geçmiştir) to sound more formal or absolute, but it is completely grammatically correct without it.
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