Learn Turkish: Bu keşifte eski bir yazıt okuyabiliriz ama çömlekler bize hiçbir şey anlatmayabilir. - We might read an old inscription in this discovery, but the pots might not tell us anything.

Bu keşifte eski bir yazıt okuyabiliriz ama çömlekler bize hiçbir şey anlatmayabilir.

We might read an old inscription in this discovery, but the pots might not tell us anything.

Breakdown of Bu keşifte eski bir yazıt okuyabiliriz ama çömlekler bize hiçbir şey anlatmayabilir.

Questions & Answers about Bu keşifte eski bir yazıt okuyabiliriz ama çömlekler bize hiçbir şey anlatmayabilir.

How exactly is anlatmayabilir built to mean "might not tell"?

It follows a very specific suffix order: Verb root (anlat) + negative suffix (-ma) + buffer (-y-) + possibility suffix (-abil) + aorist tense (-ir). Because the negative -ma comes before the possibility -abil, it expresses the possibility of a negative action ("might not tell") rather than an inability ("cannot tell").

okuyabiliriz can mean "we can read" (ability). How do we know it means "we might read" (possibility) here?

You are correct that the -ebil suffix in the aorist tense is used for both ability and possibility. Context is everything! Because it is paired with the second clause about what the pots might not do (anlatmayabilir), it is clear we are weighing the probabilities of what will happen during a discovery, rather than stating our physical ability to read.

Why is the translation "anything" if hiçbir şey literally means "nothing"?

In Turkish, words starting with hiç- (like hiçbir şey or hiç kimse) must be paired with a negative verb to mean "anything" or "anybody". Because anlatmayabilir is negative, Turkish uses hiçbir şey. It essentially creates a double negative ("might not tell us nothing"), which is the standard, grammatically correct way to phrase this in Turkish.

Why does (in the discovery) end in instead of the usual locative suffix ?