Learn Turkish: Masanın tozu sünger ile silinmeli. - The dust on the table must be wiped with a sponge.

The root verb is sil (to wipe). To make it passive, we add the suffix -in, becoming silin (to be wiped). Finally, we add the necessity suffix -meli (must) to form silinmeli (must be wiped).

Why does the passive suffix in silinmeli use -in instead of the standard -il?

Usually, the passive suffix is -il. But since the root verb sil already ends in the letter 'l', adding another 'l' would sound awkward. For verb roots ending in 'l' or a vowel, Turkish uses -in for the passive voice instead.

Why does toz (dust) have a -u at the end in Masanın tozu?

This is a standard possessive relationship, literally translating to the table's dust. The word masa (table) takes the genitive suffix -nın, and toz must take the matching 3rd-person possessive suffix -u to link them together.

Could sünger ile be combined into a single word?

Yes! The word ile (with) is very often attached to the preceding noun. Since sünger ends in a consonant, it would become süngerle according to vowel harmony. Both versions are correct and commonly used.