Breakdown of Bomboş adaya varana kadar deniz tertemiz görünüyordu.
deniz
sea
kadar
as ... as; until, up to
varmak
to arrive (at a destination)
ada
island
görünmek
to appear, to seem
bomboş
completely empty
tertemiz
spotlessly clean
Questions & Answers about Bomboş adaya varana kadar deniz tertemiz görünüyordu.
How exactly is bomboş formed from boş?
To intensify an adjective in Turkish, you take the first syllable (or up to the first vowel), add one of four consonants (m, p, r, or s), and attach it to the front. For boş (empty), the first part is bo-. We add m, making bom-, and put it in front of the word to make bomboş (completely empty).
If bomboş uses an m, why does tertemiz use an r? Is there a rule for choosing between m, p, r, s?
Unfortunately, there isn't a strict phonetic rule for which consonant (m, p, r, or s) to use. It just has to be memorized for each word. For temiz (clean), the prefix becomes te- + r = tertemiz (spotlessly clean). Other examples are kıpkırmızı (bright red, using p) and masmavi (bright blue, using s).
How does varana kadar mean "until reaching"?
To say "until doing [something]" in Turkish, you attach the suffix -(y)An to the verb root, add the dative case ending -(y)A, and follow it with kadar. Here, the verb root is var- (to reach). We add -an, then the dative -a (to), forming varana. Combined with kadar (until), it creates the meaning "until reaching."
Why is the verb görünüyordu instead of görüyordu?
gör- means "to see," so görüyordu would mean "it was seeing." By adding the passive/reflexive suffix -ün, we change it to görün-, which means "to be seen" or "to appear/seem." So, deniz tertemiz görünüyordu translates perfectly to "the sea was looking (seemed) spotlessly clean."
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