Breakdown of Lütfen odanı süpürür müsün?
oda
room
lütfen
please
mi
question particle (mı/mi/mu/mü)
süpürmek
to sweep / to vacuum
Questions & Answers about Lütfen odanı süpürür müsün?
The current lesson is about the causative suffix -t. Why isn't it used in süpürür müsün?
Because in this sentence, you are asking the person to do the sweeping themselves. If you wanted to use the causative to say 'have your room swept' (by someone else), you would add the causative -t suffix to the multi-syllable verb root süpür-, making it süpürt-. The request would then be Lütfen odanı süpürtür müsün?.
Can you break down the suffixes in the word odanı?
It starts with the root oda (room). Then we add the 2nd person singular possessive suffix -n to make odan (your room). Finally, because 'your room' is the specific direct object receiving the sweeping action, we add the accusative case suffix -ı, giving us odanı.
Why is the aorist tense (-ür) used here instead of the present continuous (süpürüyor musun)?
In Turkish, the aorist tense is the standard way to make polite requests, similar to 'Would you...?' or 'Could you...?' in English. Asking süpürüyor musun? would literally mean 'Are you sweeping right now?', which is a factual question about the present moment rather than a polite request.
The root of the verb is süpür-. How is the aorist suffix formed here?
The verb root is süpür- (to sweep). Because it has more than one syllable and ends in a consonant, its aorist suffix requires a vowel. Following four-way vowel harmony based on the last vowel (ü), the suffix becomes -ür. It just happens to look exactly like a repeat of the final syllable!
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