Breakdown of Polis, adamın hangi yöne kaçtığını sordu.
adam
man
polis
police officer
kaçmak
to run away
sormak
to ask
hangi
which
yön
direction
Questions & Answers about Polis, adamın hangi yöne kaçtığını sordu.
Why do we use kaçtığını instead of the regular past tense kaçtı?
Because this is an indirect question. When you embed a question like 'which direction did he flee?' into another sentence ('The police asked...'), it turns into a noun clause. Turkish does this by attaching the factive suffix -dık to the verb, treating the action as a noun.
Why is 'the man' written with the genitive case as adamın?
In Turkish noun clauses like this indirect question, the subject of the embedded action takes the genitive (possessive) case. Since the clause translates literally to 'the man's fleeing,' adam takes the genitive suffix -ın to match the possessive suffix on the verb kaçtığını.
Can you break down all the suffixes on kaçtığını?
Sure! It is kaç (flee) + -tığ (the factive suffix -dık with consonant mutation) + -ı (3rd person possessive, linking to adamın) + -n- (buffer letter) + -ı (accusative case). The final -ı is required because this entire embedded question is the direct object of the main verb sordu (asked).
Why does yön (direction) have the -e suffix here?
The verb kaçmak (to flee / to run away) describes motion. When you indicate the destination or direction of that motion, the noun requires the dative case (to/towards). So yön becomes yöne to mean 'to the direction.'
What is the purpose of the comma after Polis?
In Turkish, commas are often used to mark the subject of the sentence, especially when it is followed by another noun. Here, the comma prevents ambiguity, ensuring you don't accidentally read the first two words together as 'the police man's' (which would be polis adamın).
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