Breakdown of Siz onaylamadıkça, yeni bir anlaşma yapmamız mümkün değil.
bir
a / an
yeni
new
siz
you (plural/formal)
değil
not
yapmak
to do / to make
onaylamak
to approve
anlaşma
agreement
mümkün
possible
Questions & Answers about Siz onaylamadıkça, yeni bir anlaşma yapmamız mümkün değil.
Why does the sentence use yapmamız to say 'for us to make'?
This is the core of the lesson! Yapmamız combines the short verbal noun suffix -ma (the act of doing/making) with the first-person plural possessive -mız (our). Literally, it means 'our making.' In Turkish, to say 'it is possible/impossible for [someone] to do [something]', you make the action into a possessed noun and use it as the subject: 'Our making a new agreement is not possible.'
There is a -ma on both anlaşma and yapmamız. Are they doing the same grammatical job here?
Not exactly. While both use the -ma suffix, anlaşma has become a fixed, everyday dictionary noun meaning 'agreement' or 'treaty.' On the other hand, yapmamız is actively being used as a verbal noun ('our making') to build a clause. You will see -ma used both to create permanent nouns and to form these temporary action clauses.
How exactly does onaylamadıkça mean 'unless'?
It comes from the suffix -dıkça, which usually means 'as long as' or 'every time.' Here, it is attached to the negative stem onayla-ma- (not approve). Literally, it means 'as long as you do not approve,' which translates perfectly into natural English as 'unless you approve.'
Why is it Siz onaylamadıkça instead of Sizin onaylamadıkça? Don't we usually use a possessive word for subjects in clauses?
That is a great catch! While verbal nouns (like yapmamız) pair with possessive subjects (like bizim, which is dropped but implied in this sentence), the -dıkça suffix works differently. It builds an adverb clause and takes a standard, plain subject. So you use the nominative pronoun Siz, not the possessive Sizin.
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