Learn Turkish: Yağmur yağmazsa, kuraklık olacağını tahmin ediyoruz. - If it does not rain, we predict that there will be a drought.

Yağmur yağmazsa, kuraklık olacağını tahmin ediyoruz.

If it does not rain, we predict that there will be a drought.

Breakdown of Yağmur yağmazsa, kuraklık olacağını tahmin ediyoruz.

Questions & Answers about Yağmur yağmazsa, kuraklık olacağını tahmin ediyoruz.

Can you break down the suffixes on olacağını?

Sure! It comes from the verb olmak (to be / to happen) and forms the future complement clause:

ol- (root)
-acağ- (future clause marker, softened from -acak)
-ı (3rd person singular possessive, representing the 'happening' of the drought)
-n- (buffer letter)
-ı (accusative case marker). Altogether, it translates to 'that (it) will happen'.

Why does olacağını need the accusative case marker (-ı) at the very end?

Because the entire embedded clause (kuraklık olacağını) acts as the direct object of the main verb, tahmin ediyoruz (we predict). When you state what you are predicting, that object requires the accusative case in Turkish.

Normally the subject of an embedded clause takes the genitive case. Why isn't it kuraklığın olacağını?

Great catch! While specific, definite subjects in these clauses take the genitive (e.g., yağmurun yağacağını = that the rain will fall), indefinite or general subjects often do not. Because we are talking about a drought happening in general, kuraklık stays in its bare form.

How is the conditional verb yağmazsa formed?