Questions & Answers about Daha az şeker tüketsek hasta olmazdık.
How does tüketsek mean 'if we consumed' when it doesn't have a past tense suffix?
In Turkish, a present hypothetical condition (something that isn't true right now) is made by adding the conditional suffix -se or -sa directly to the verb root. You don't use a past tense marker in the 'if' part like we do in English. Here, tüket- (consume) + -se (if) + -k (we) translates to 'if we consumed' to show we are imagining a different reality.
Why does the second part, olmazdık, use the past tense suffix -dı if this is about the present?
To say 'would' or 'wouldn't' in Turkish, you combine the aorist tense (broad time) with the past tense suffix -dı. Here, ol- (to be) gets the negative aorist -maz, followed by the past suffix -dı and the personal ending -k. Together, olmazdık means 'we wouldn't be/get (sick)'.
I thought the negative aorist for 'we' was -mayız. Why is it -mazdık here?
You use -mayız for a simple present statement, like hasta olmayız (we don't get sick). But when you add the past tense suffix -dı to make it 'wouldn't', the negative aorist root stays as -maz. Then you add -dı and the past-tense 'we' ending -k, giving you olmazdık.
Could I just say yesek (if we ate) instead of ?