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Questions & Answers about Hediyeden çok memnun oldu.
Why does the word for gift have the -den suffix if the English translation says 'with the gift'?
In Turkish, the expression for being pleased with something is memnun olmak. This phrase requires the thing you are pleased with to take the ablative suffix -den or -dan (which usually means 'from'). So literally, she was pleased 'from' the gift (hediyeden).
Could I just say memnundu instead of memnun oldu?
Yes, you can! Memnundu simply means 'she was pleased'. However, Turkish often uses the helping verb olmak (to be / to become) with adjectives to show a reaction or a change in state. Memnun oldu carries a slight feeling of 'she became pleased' upon receiving the gift, which sounds very natural here.
Where is the word for 'she' in this sentence?
It is hidden in the verb ending. The verb oldu is in the third-person singular form, which can mean 'he', 'she', or 'it'. Turkish often drops subject pronouns like o (he/she/it) when they are understood from context. You would only add o at the beginning if you needed to emphasize who you were talking about.
Is the word order fixed here, or could I put çok somewhere else?
The word order is strict here. In Turkish, words that describe the degree of something, like çok (very), must go immediately before the adjective or verb they modify. Putting it right before memnun correctly translates to 'very pleased'.