Breakdown of Ben bile bu üne ve ilgiye şaşırıyorum.
bu
this
ben
I
ve
and
şaşırmak
to be surprised
bile
even
ün
fame
ilgi
interest
Questions & Answers about Ben bile bu üne ve ilgiye şaşırıyorum.
Why does bile come after ben when the English translation says 'Even I'?
In Turkish, the emphatic particle bile (meaning 'even') always comes immediately after the word or phrase it emphasizes. So to say 'even I', you must say ben bile (literally 'I even').
Could I put bile at the very beginning of the sentence instead?
No, placing it at the beginning (like Bile ben...) is grammatically incorrect in Turkish. It must act like a tag on the specific word it highlights, so it has to strictly follow ben.
Why do the words for fame (ün) and interest (ilgi) have the endings -e and -ye?
The verb şaşırmak (to be surprised) requires the dative case. You can think of it as being surprised 'to' or 'at' something. Because they are the objects of this verb, ün becomes üne and ilgi becomes ilgiye.
Why is there a buffer y in ilgiye but not in üne?
The root word ilgi ends in a vowel. When you add the dative case ending -e, you must insert the buffer letter y to prevent two vowels from crashing together. Since ün ends in a consonant, it takes the -e directly without needing a buffer.
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