Breakdown of Biz bu türün neslinin tükendiğini daha önce öğrenmiştik.
bu
this
biz
we
öğrenmek
to learn
daha
more
Questions & Answers about Biz bu türün neslinin tükendiğini daha önce öğrenmiştik.
How does öğrenmiştik give the meaning "we had learned"?
It uses the Past Perfect (Pluperfect) tense. The verb öğrenmek (to learn) takes the suffix -miş, followed by the past tense copula -ti and the "we" ending -k. The combination of -miş + -ti (-mişti) translates to "had done" something in English, showing an action was completed before another past event.
What is the literal meaning of neslinin tükendiğini?
The root phrase is nesli tükenmek, an idiom meaning "to go extinct". It literally translates to "its generation/lineage (nesli) becomes exhausted/depleted (tükenmek)". Notice that the base noun is nesil (generation), but it loses its second vowel when a suffix starting with a vowel is added (nesil -> nesli).
Why are both tür and nesil in the genitive case (türün, neslinin)?
This is a possession chain. First, bu türün nesli means "this species' lineage". Then, because "its lineage" acts as the subject of the -dik clause ("that its lineage went extinct"), it must take the genitive case again. So nesli gets the buffer -n- and the genitive suffix -in, becoming neslinin tükendiği (its lineage's going extinct).
Why does the word for extinct end with -ni (tükendiğini)?
The verb öğrenmek (to learn) requires its specific direct object to be in the accusative case. The word breaks down as tüken-diğ-i (that it went extinct) + -n- (buffer letter) + -i (accusative suffix). This links the entire "that" clause to the verb: we learned it.
Does daha önce mean "already" or "before"?