Learn Turkish: Ofiste kırmızı ruj sürmene gerek yok. - You don't need to put on red lipstick at the office.

Ofiste kırmızı ruj sürmene gerek yok.

You don't need to put on red lipstick at the office.

Breakdown of Ofiste kırmızı ruj sürmene gerek yok.

yok

there is not / non-existent

Questions & Answers about Ofiste kırmızı ruj sürmene gerek yok.

How do all the suffixes on sürmene work together here?

The verb root is sür- (to apply). We add the verbal noun suffix -me to get the idea of an action, like 'applying'. Next, the second-person singular possessive suffix -n makes it 'your applying'. Finally, the dative case -e is added because the phrase gerek yok requires it.

Why do we need the dative case suffix -e at the end of sürmene?

The phrase gerek yok literally means 'there is no need'. In Turkish grammar, you use the dative case (which usually means 'to' or 'for') to show what the lack of necessity is directed at. You can think of it as saying 'there is no need TO your applying'.

I originally learned that sürmek means 'to drive'. Why is it used for lipstick here?

While sürmek does mean 'to drive', its core physical meaning is 'to rub', 'to smear', or 'to apply' onto a surface. In Turkish, you use sürmek for things you apply to your body, like makeup, creams, and perfumes, rather than the verbs used for putting on clothing.

Why doesn't kırmızı ruj take the accusative ending here (like kırmızı ruju)?

The accusative case is only used for specific, definite direct objects. Because this sentence is talking about applying red lipstick in general, rather than a specific tube of lipstick that was mentioned earlier, the object remains in its plain dictionary form.