Breakdown of Trafik yoğun olduğu için alternatif bir yola sapmıştır.
bir
a / an
yol
road
olmak
to be
için
for
trafik
traffic
yoğun
heavy / busy / intense (traffic, schedule)
alternatif
alternative
sapmak
to turn (deviate)
Questions & Answers about Trafik yoğun olduğu için alternatif bir yola sapmıştır.
Why does the sentence use sapmıştır instead of just saptı or sapmış?
The suffix -tır added to the -mış past tense creates an assumption or a strong probability. While sapmış would just mean 'apparently he turned' (based on hearsay or discovering it later), sapmıştır means 'I assume he turned' or 'he must have turned' based on logical deduction, which in this case is knowing the traffic is heavy.
Why is it olduğu için instead of just oldu için for 'because it is'?
To say 'because [a full clause happens]' in Turkish, we use the participle suffix -dık plus a possessive ending, followed by için. Here, ol- (to be) + -duk + -u (its) becomes olduğu. So trafik yoğun olduğu için literally acts like 'because of the traffic's being heavy'.
Why is bir placed after alternatif instead of before it?
In Turkish, when an adjective modifies a noun that also has the indefinite article bir (a/an), the standard word order is Adjective + bir + Noun. Therefore, 'an alternative road' is expressed as alternatif bir yol.
Why does yol take the dative suffix -a here?
The verb sapmak means 'to turn', 'to deviate', or 'to branch off'. Because you are turning towards or onto a new direction, the destination (yol) requires the dative case of direction, making it yola.
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