Word
Yağmur yağmadıkça kuyu kuruyor.
Meaning
Unless it rains, the well dries up.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Yağmur yağmadıkça kuyu kuruyor.
yağmur
rain
yağmak
to rain / to snow
kurumak
to dry up
kuyu
well
Questions & Answers about Yağmur yağmadıkça kuyu kuruyor.
How does yağmadıkça translate to 'unless'?
If I want to say 'unless you come', how do personal endings work with -mAdIkçA?
This suffix is a converb, meaning it turns the verb into an adverb, and converbs do not take personal endings. If you need to specify who is doing the action, you just use a pronoun. For example, 'unless you come' is simply sen gelmedikçe, leaving the verb suffix exactly the same.
I know yağmur means 'rain' (the noun), but why is the verb yağmak used with it? Doesn't that mean 'rain raining'?
Why is the verb kuruyor in the present continuous tense (is drying) when the English translation says 'dries up'?
Turkish frequently uses the present continuous tense (-Iyor) for general facts, routines, and observable truths, where English prefers the simple present. You could also use the aorist tense here (kurur), but kuruyor is very natural in everyday speech for describing a process that happens regularly.