Breakdown of Hangi bahçıvana çimleri sulattın?
hangi
which
bahçıvan
gardener
çim
grass / lawn (cultivated)
sulamak
to water
Questions & Answers about Hangi bahçıvana çimleri sulattın?
How exactly does sulattın mean "you had [someone] water"?
The base verb is sulamak (to water). Because the verb stem sula- ends in a vowel, we add the causative suffix -t to make sulat- (to have someone water). Finally, we add the past tense -tı and the "you" ending -n to get sulattın.
Why is the gardener in the dative case (bahçıvana)?
In Turkish causative sentences, if the original verb takes a direct object, the person you ask or force to do the action (the causee) gets the dative case. Since sulamak (to water) takes a direct object (the grass), the person doing the watering (bahçıvan) takes the dative ending -a.
Does çimleri take the accusative case because of the causative verb?
No, it takes the accusative case (-i) simply because it is the specific direct object being watered ("the grass"). The original verb's direct object stays exactly the same, even when you make the verb causative.
The root of sulattın looks like su (water). How does it become an action?
You spotted it! su is the noun for "water". The suffix -la turns it into the verb sulamak (to water). This is a very common Turkish suffix for turning nouns into verbs, just like turning baş (head) into başlamak (to start).
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