Breakdown of Diplomatın yazdığı antlaşma, kavga etmek yerine uzlaşmalarına yardımcı oldu.
yazmak
to write
kavga etmek
to argue (quarrel, fight)
yerine
instead of
yardımcı olmak
to be of help
Questions & Answers about Diplomatın yazdığı antlaşma, kavga etmek yerine uzlaşmalarına yardımcı oldu.
Why does uzlaşmalarına have both a possessive ending and a dative ending?
The verb yardımcı olmak (to help) requires the dative case (-a or -e) to show what is being helped. The action they are being helped with is 'reaching a consensus', formed with the short verbal noun -ma. We add the plural possessive -ları to show it is their reaching a consensus, followed by the buffer letter -n- and the dative -a to connect it to the main verb: uzlaş-ma-ları-n-a.
Why does diplomat take the genitive ending -ın in diplomatın yazdığı?
This is an object relative clause, which translates to 'the treaty that the diplomat wrote.' In Turkish, the subject of this type of clause (the diplomat) takes the genitive case (-ın), and the verb takes the -dık participle plus a possessive ending (yaz-dık-ı becomes yazdığı). You can think of it literally as 'the diplomat's written-treaty'.
To say 'instead of fighting', why do we use the full infinitive kavga etmek before yerine?
When using yerine (instead of) with an action, you simply pair it with the dictionary infinitive form of the verb (-mAk). Unlike the short verbal noun structure used later in this sentence, you don't need any possessive endings or case markers here. It is just kavga etmek yerine.