Word
Sekretere mührü bu forma basmasını söylediler.
Meaning
They told the secretary to stamp this form.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Sekretere mührü bu forma basmasını söylediler.
bu
this
söylemek
to say, to sing
sekreter
secretary
basmak
to press
Questions & Answers about Sekretere mührü bu forma basmasını söylediler.
Why is it basmasını instead of just basmayı?
When you tell someone else to do something, Turkish expresses it as telling them 'their doing' of the action. The -ma turns the verb into a noun (stamping), the -sı is the 3rd person possessive (his/her stamping), and the final -nı is the accusative case marker because the whole phrase is the direct object of söylediler (they told).
Why is the word for stamp spelled mührü instead of mühürü?
This is an example of vowel drop. For certain two-syllable words like mühür, when you add a suffix starting with a vowel (like the accusative -ü here), the vowel in the second syllable drops out. So, mühür + -ü becomes mührü.
Why is it bu forma (dative) rather than bu formu (accusative)?
The verb basmak (to press or stamp) requires the dative case for the surface you are pressing onto. Here, they are pressing the stamp (mührü, accusative) onto this form (bu forma, dative).
Why is sekreter in the dative case (sekretere)?
The verb söylemek (to tell or say) takes the dative case for the person receiving the message. While in English we say 'tell the secretary', Turkish phrases it as saying something 'to the secretary'.