Breakdown of Boynuma küçük bir motif seçecekken dövmenin çok acıdığını hatırladım.
bir
a / an
küçük
small
çok
a lot of / many
seçmek
to choose
hatırlamak
to remember
dövme
tattoo
motif
motif / pattern (decorative)
boyun
neck
acımak
to hurt / to be painful
Questions & Answers about Boynuma küçük bir motif seçecekken dövmenin çok acıdığını hatırladım.
How does seçecekken translate to "just as I was about to choose"?
This word combines the future tense suffix -ecek with the adverbial suffix -ken (while). Together as -(y)ecekken, they create the meaning "while I was going to" or "just as I was about to" do something. It usually implies that the intended action was interrupted, changed, or abandoned.
Why is the word for "on my neck" written as boynuma instead of boyunuma?
The root word for neck is boyun. However, many two-syllable Turkish words for body parts drop their second vowel when a suffix starting with a vowel is added. So, boyun plus the "my" suffix -um becomes boynum, and adding the dative case -a (to/on) makes it boynuma.
Why do we use dövmenin ... acıdığını to say "that tattoos hurt"?
To say "I remembered THAT tattoos hurt", Turkish uses a noun clause. The subject of the clause (the tattoo) takes the genitive suffix to become dövmenin, and the verb takes the -dık suffix plus a possessive ending to become acıdığı. Literally, it translates to "I remembered the tattoo's hurting."
What are the specific suffixes at the end of acıdığını?
Let's break it down. acı is the verb root (to hurt), and -dığ is the -dık suffix softened by the next vowel. The first -ı is the third-person possessive suffix matching the tattoo. The -n- is a buffer letter. Finally, the second -ı is the accusative case suffix, marking this entire phrase as the direct object of the main verb hatırladım (I remembered).
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