Breakdown of Siyah bulutlardan dolayı sağanak başlayacağını anladık.
başlamak
to begin, to start
anlamak
to understand
siyah
black
dolayı
due to, because of
bulut
cloud
sağanak
downpour
Questions & Answers about Siyah bulutlardan dolayı sağanak başlayacağını anladık.
How does başlayacağını break down to mean "that it will start"?
It uses the future object clause structure. It is built from başla (start) + -y- (buffer) + -acak (future suffix, softened to -acağ-) + -ı (3rd person possessive, representing "its") + -n- (buffer) + -ı (accusative case). The accusative is required because this entire future action is the direct object of the main verb anladık (we understood).
Why is the subject of the clause just sağanak instead of sağanağın? Don't these clauses usually need the genitive case?
Typically, the subject of an object clause takes the genitive case, like onun başlayacağını (that it will start). However, when the subject is indefinite or general, like "a downpour" rather than "the downpour", Turkish often leaves it in the bare dictionary form.
Why does bulutlardan have the ablative -dan ending here?
The word dolayı (because of / due to) is a postposition that always forces the noun before it to take the ablative case (-dan / -den). Therefore, "because of the clouds" must be translated as bulutlardan dolayı.
Since anladık (we understood) is in the past tense, why doesn't the Turkish sentence use a past tense for "would start"?
In English, past tense main verbs usually force the following clause into the past ("we understood that it would start"). In Turkish, the embedded clause keeps the perspective of the moment it happened. When they looked at the clouds, the downpour was still in the future, so the future suffix -acak is used. You can translate it as "will start" or "would start" in English.
Learn Siyah bulutlardan dolayı sağanak başlayacağını anladık and more in Turkish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free