Breakdown of Yatırımcılar kaybettiklerini kendileri ödedi.
ödemek
to pay
kaybetmek
to lose
kendi
self
yatırımcı
investor
Questions & Answers about Yatırımcılar kaybettiklerini kendileri ödedi.
How exactly does kaybettiklerini translate to "what they lost"?
This is a "headless" relative clause where the noun (like "the money" or "the things") has been dropped. It comes from the verb kaybetmek (to lose). We add the participle suffix -dik (which becomes -tik because of consonant harmony), and then the 3rd person plural possessive suffix -leri ("their"). So, kaybettikleri literally means "their lost (things)" or "what they lost."
Why is there a -ni at the very end of kaybettiklerini?
The word "what they lost" acts as the specific direct object of the verb ödedi (paid), so it needs the accusative case marker. Because the word ends with a 3rd person possessive suffix (-leri), you must use the buffer letter -n- before adding the accusative suffix -i, resulting in -ni.
Why do we use kendileri here if we already have the subject yatırımcılar?
Kendileri means "themselves." It is used here for emphasis to show that the investors paid out of their own pockets, rather than someone else covering the loss. The plural suffix -leri in kendileri matches the plural subject yatırımcılar.
Since the investors (yatırımcılar) are plural, shouldn't the verb be ödediler?
In Turkish, when a human subject is explicitly plural (marked with -lar or -ler), adding the plural suffix to the verb is optional. Both ödedi and ödediler are completely correct, but dropping the plural suffix on the verb is very common and often sounds more natural.
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