Breakdown of Herkes onun havuzu kullanıp kullanmadığını merak ediyor.
o
that / he / she / it
kullanmak
to use
herkes
everyone
merak etmek
to wonder, to be curious
Questions & Answers about Herkes onun havuzu kullanıp kullanmadığını merak ediyor.
How does the kullanıp kullanmadığını structure translate to "whether or not"?
To form an indirect "whether or not" question, Turkish pairs the positive verb root with the -(y)ıp suffix, followed immediately by the negative form of the same verb. Here, kullanıp acts as "using and...", paired with the negative kullanma- (not using). Together, they capture the "whether or not" meaning.
Can you break down the suffixes at the very end of kullanmadığını?
Absolutely! After the negative verb root kullanma-, we add -dığ (the suffix that turns the verb into a noun phrase), -ın (the possessive suffix meaning "his/her", matching onun), and finally the accusative suffix -ı. The n right before the final -ı is a buffer letter. The accusative is needed because this entire "whether or not" clause is the direct object of what everyone is wondering (merak ediyor).
Why do we use the genitive onun (his) instead of the subject pronoun o (he)?
When you turn a clause into a noun phrase in Turkish (like "whether he used the pool"), the subject of that embedded clause takes the genitive (possessive) case. You can think of it literally as "Everyone wonders about his using-and-not-using of the pool."
Why does havuz (pool) have an -u at the end?