Breakdown of Yönetmen, şarkı söyleyenleri dinliyordu.
dinlemek
to listen
şarkı
song
söylemek
to say, to sing
yönetmen
director
Questions & Answers about Yönetmen, şarkı söyleyenleri dinliyordu.
How does söyleyenleri mean "those who were singing" without a word for "people"?
This is a shortened way of saying "the people who sing" (şarkı söyleyen kişiler). The suffix -(y)en creates a relative clause meaning "who sings". When we drop the noun (kişiler), we can attach the plural suffix -ler directly to the verb to mean "the ones who sing" or "those who sing": söyleyenler.
Why is there an -i at the very end of söyleyenleri?
It is the accusative case suffix. In Turkish, the verb dinlemek (to listen to) takes a direct object. Because the director is listening to a specific, defined group of people ("those who were singing"), the word needs the definite direct object ending -i.
The root for "to listen" is dinle-. Why does it become dinli- in dinliyordu?
This happens because of a rule called "vowel narrowing." When a verb ends in -a or -e (like dinle-) and is followed by the continuous suffix -iyor, that final vowel narrows to -ı, -i, -u, or -ü. Here, the -e in dinle changes to -i, making it dinliyor.
Why did we use dinliyordu instead of the simple past dinledi?
dinliyordu is in the past continuous tense. It combines the continuous suffix -iyor (is listening) with the past tense suffix -du (was). This means the director "was listening" over a period of time. If we used dinledi, it would mean the simple, completed past: "listened."
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