Breakdown of Bu mazeretten dolayı müdür çok kızdı.
bu
this
çok
very
müdür
manager, director
kızmak
to get angry
Questions & Answers about Bu mazeretten dolayı müdür çok kızdı.
Why does mazeret take the -ten ending before dolayı?
The postposition dolayı (due to / because of) always requires the preceding noun to be in the ablative case (-den / -dan). Because mazeret (excuse) ends in a voiceless consonant (t), the suffix undergoes consonant harmony and changes to -ten.
Could I use ötürü in this sentence instead?
Yes! You can say Bu mazeretten ötürü, which means exactly the same thing. Both dolayı and ötürü require the ablative case and are interchangeable, though dolayı is a bit more common in everyday conversation.
How is this different from using yüzünden to mean 'because of'?
You could say Bu mazeret yüzünden to mean the same thing, but the grammar is different. Yüzünden attaches directly to a plain noun or takes the genitive case, whereas dolayı always requires the ablative (-den / -dan). Additionally, yüzünden often implies blame or a negative outcome ('the fault of'), whereas dolayı is more neutral.
I learned that kızmak (to get angry) takes the dative case (-e / -a). Why isn't there a dative case here?