Questions & Answers about İşsizlik oranı geçen yıl yüzde on azaldı.
How does yüzde on mean "ten percent"?
In Turkish, percentages are built using the locative case suffix -de or -da on the word for hundred, which is yüz. So yüzde literally means "in a hundred". The number follows it, making yüzde on "ten in a hundred", or ten percent.
Why is there an -ı at the end of oranı?
İşsizlik oranı is a noun compound meaning "unemployment rate". When you link two nouns together like this in Turkish, the second noun gets a possessive suffix to connect them. The base word is oran (rate or proportion), and the -ı links it back to işsizlik (unemployment).
How is the word işsizlik (unemployment) built up?
It starts with the root iş, meaning "work" or "job". Adding the suffix -siz (which means "without") makes işsiz (jobless). Finally, adding the suffix -lik turns it into the noun işsizlik (unemployment).
Doesn't geçen literally mean "passing"? Why does it mean "last" here?