Breakdown of Çiftin otelde kalıp kalmadığını kontrol etmelisin.
otel
hotel
kalmak
to stay / to be left / to remain (in a state)
kontrol etmek
to check
çift
couple / pair
Questions & Answers about Çiftin otelde kalıp kalmadığını kontrol etmelisin.
How does kalıp kalmadığını translate to "whether or not (they) are staying"?
This is the standard way to form an indirect yes/no question in Turkish. You take the positive verb with the -(y)ıp suffix (kalıp), followed by the negative verb with the -dık suffix (kalmadık). Then you add the possessive ending for the subject (here, -ı for "its") and the accusative case (-nı) because this whole phrase is the direct object of the main verb kontrol etmelisin.
Why is the genitive suffix used on çiftin (the couple's)?
In Turkish, when a whole sentence is turned into a noun clause (like "whether the couple is staying"), the subject of that clause takes the genitive case. So, the subject "the couple" becomes çiftin, making the literal translation closer to "the couple's staying/not staying".
Can you break down all the suffixes on kalmadığını?
Sure! It starts with the verb root kal- (stay). Then -ma makes it negative. -dığ is the softened form of -dık, which turns the verb into a noun. The first -ı is the 3rd person singular possessive ("its" referring to the couple). The -n- is a buffer letter. The final -ı is the accusative case marker, showing that this whole word is the direct object being checked.
Since a "couple" is two people, why doesn't the noun clause use a plural possessive like kalmadıklarını?
Collective nouns in Turkish, such as çift (couple), aile (family), or takım (team), are grammatically singular. Therefore, they take the singular possessive suffix -ı instead of the plural -ları, unless you specifically make the noun plural (like çiftler).
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