Breakdown of Çok lezzetli olduğu halde bu hamur işini yemiyorum.
bu
this
çok
very
yemek
to eat
olmak
to be
lezzetli
delicious
halde
even though / despite (used with -dIğI)
hamur işi
pastry / baked goods
Questions & Answers about Çok lezzetli olduğu halde bu hamur işini yemiyorum.
How does olduğu halde translate to 'even though it is'?
This is the concessive clause structure you are learning in this lesson. We take the verb olmak (to be) and add the participle suffix -dık, which softens to -dığ- here. Then we add the third-person possessive suffix -u to get olduğu (literally 'its being'). Finally, adding halde creates the meaning 'despite its being' or 'even though it is'.
Why is there an extra '-ni' at the end of hamur işini?
The base word for pastry is hamur işi, which is a compound noun (literally 'dough work') and already ends with the possessive suffix -i. Because it is the specific direct object of the verb yemiyorum (I am not eating this pastry), it needs the accusative case suffix -i. The letter -n- is used as a buffer between the compound noun's possessive suffix and the accusative suffix, giving us işini.
Wait, shouldn't the negative continuous form of yemek (to eat) be yemeyorum?
This is an example of vowel narrowing, a rule you might remember from earlier levels. The verb root is ye- and the negative form is yeme-. When the present continuous suffix -iyor is added to a verb ending in -e or -a, that vowel narrows to match the suffix. Therefore, yeme- + -iyor + -um becomes yemiyorum.
Could I change the word order and put bu hamur işini at the very beginning?
Yes! Turkish word order is flexible, and saying Bu hamur işini çok lezzetli olduğu halde yemiyorum is completely natural. The current order just puts a slightly different emphasis on the sentence, placing 'this pastry' right before the verb to highlight exactly what it is you are refusing to eat.
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