Breakdown of Odanın camları silinmiyor.
oda
room
cam
glass (material) / window
silmek
to wipe / to clean (by wiping)
Elon.io is an online learning platform
We have an entire course teaching Turkish grammar and vocabulary.
Questions & Answers about Odanın camları silinmiyor.
The verb root is "sil-" (to wipe). How is the passive voice formed in "silinmiyor"?
Because the verb root sil- ends in the consonant 'l', we use the passive suffix -in instead of the standard -il. This changes sil- (to wipe) into silin- (to be wiped).
Can you break down the rest of the suffixes in "silinmiyor"?
Yes! After the passive root silin-, we add the negative suffix. Normally this is -me, but the present continuous suffix -yor causes 'vowel narrowing', changing the 'e' to an 'i'. So we get silin- + -mi + -yor to mean 'is not being wiped'.
I thought "pencere" meant window. Why is "cam" used here?
While pencere refers to the entire window frame and structure, cam literally means 'glass'. In everyday Turkish, it is very common to use cam to talk about windows, especially in the context of wiping or cleaning them.
Why does "camlar" (windows) have an extra "-ı" at the end?
The -ı is the third-person possessive suffix. It is required here because the sentence uses a possessive noun compound: Odanın (the room's) paired with camları (windows of it). Together, they form 'the room's windows' or 'the windows of the room'.