Word
Esirler hiçbir şey yemeden bekletildi.
Meaning
The prisoners were kept waiting without eating anything.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Esirler hiçbir şey yemeden bekletildi.
yemek
to eat
beklemek
to wait
şey
thing
hiçbir
no / not any (determiner)
Questions & Answers about Esirler hiçbir şey yemeden bekletildi.
Can you break down the suffixes in bekletildi to show the causative-passive structure?
The root is bekle- (to wait). We add the causative suffix -t to get beklet- (to keep waiting / make wait). Then we add the passive suffix -il to get bekletil- (to be kept waiting). Finally, -di is the past tense marker.
Why is the passive suffix -il used here instead of -in?
The passive suffix is -in only when the preceding stem ends in a vowel or the letter L. Because the causative stem beklet- ends in T, it takes the standard -il suffix (harmonized here to match the front vowel).
What gives yemeden the meaning of "without eating"?
The suffix -meden (or -madan) attaches directly to the verb root ye- (to eat). This suffix means "without doing the action", replacing the need for a separate preposition like "without" in English.
Why does the Turkish sentence use hiçbir şey (nothing) when the English translation says "anything"?
The suffix -meden inherently creates a negative context (doing something without doing another). In Turkish, negative contexts require negative words like hiçbir şey (nothing) rather than affirmative words for "anything". Literally, it acts like "without eating nothing".