Learn Turkish: Arabalar çarpışır çarpışmaz polis telsizi aldı ve ambulans istedi. - As soon as the cars collided, the police officer took the radio and requested an ambulance.

Word

Arabalar çarpışır çarpışmaz polis telsizi aldı ve ambulans istedi.

Meaning

As soon as the cars collided, the police officer took the radio and requested an ambulance.

Part of speech

sentence

Pronunciation

Course

Turkish

Lesson

As soon as (-Ir -mAz)

Breakdown of Arabalar çarpışır çarpışmaz polis telsizi aldı ve ambulans istedi.

Questions & Answers about Arabalar çarpışır çarpışmaz polis telsizi aldı ve ambulans istedi.

How exactly does çarpışır çarpışmaz translate to "as soon as they collided"?

This structure uses the aorist tense to show immediacy. You take the verb root and add the positive aorist ending (çarpışır), followed immediately by the same verb with the negative aorist ending (çarpışmaz). Together, they form a set phrase meaning "the moment they collided" or "as soon as they collided."

What does the -ış in the middle of çarpışır do?

It is the reciprocal suffix, which shows that an action is done to each other. The root çarpmak means "to hit" or "to strike," so adding -ış creates çarpışmak, meaning "to hit each other" or "to collide."

Why does telsizi have the accusative -i ending, while ambulans does not?

This highlights the difference between specific and indefinite direct objects. The officer took a specific radio (their own police radio), so it takes the accusative case to become telsizi. However, they requested an ambulance (any available ambulance, not a specific one), so ambulans stays in its plain dictionary form.

The Turkish word is just polis, but the translation says "police officer." Is this normal?

Yes! In English, "police" usually refers to the collective organization, and we add "officer" for an individual. In Turkish, polis is very commonly used for both the entire police force and a single police officer. The context (grabbing a radio) makes it clear it is an individual here.