Breakdown of O golü atsaydık, ligi birinci bitirirdik.
o
that / he / she / it
bitirmek
to finish (something)
atmak
to throw / to tie (a knot) / to lay (a foundation) / to put (a signature)
birinci
first
gol
goal (sports)
lig
league
Questions & Answers about O golü atsaydık, ligi birinci bitirirdik.
How exactly does atsaydık translate to "if we had scored"?
It uses the past counterfactual structure you are learning now. It is built from the verb root at- (throw/score), the conditional suffix -sa (if), the buffer -y-, the past tense suffix -dı, and the "we" ending -k. Together, -saydı expresses an unrealized past condition: "if something had happened".
Why does the sentence use the aorist past tense (bitirirdik) for "would have finished"?
In Turkish, the "would have" part of an impossible past situation (Type 3 conditional) is formed by combining the aorist tense (-ir) with the past tense (-di). Here, we have the verb bitir- (to finish), plus the aorist -ir, past -di, and personal ending -k, meaning "we would have finished".
Why is it golü and ligi? Shouldn't standard vowel harmony make them "golu" and "lıgı"?
You have a great eye for vowel harmony! Both gol and lig are loanwords from European languages. Many foreign loanwords in Turkish are exceptions to standard vowel harmony rules, so they take front-vowel suffixes like -ü and -i instead of the expected back-vowel ones. Both words take the accusative case here because they are specific direct objects.
Does the verb atmak normally mean "to score"?
Its most common meaning is "to throw", but it is used in several set phrases. In sports, gol atmak is the standard way to say "to score a goal" (literally "to throw a goal").
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