Breakdown of Yavaş temposuna rağmen maraton koşucusu noktayı sekizi çeyrek geçe geçti.
sekiz
eight
yavaş
slow, slowly
geçmek
to pass / to cross / to shift (into a gear)
çeyrek
quarter (of an hour)
geçe
past (the hour)
rağmen
despite / in spite of
maraton
marathon
koşucu
runner
nokta
checkpoint / point
tempo
pace / tempo
Questions & Answers about Yavaş temposuna rağmen maraton koşucusu noktayı sekizi çeyrek geçe geçti.
How does the time phrase sekizi çeyrek geçe work in this sentence?
To state that an event happens at a certain time past the hour, Turkish uses the hour in the accusative case, the minutes, and the word geçe. Here, sekiz (eight) takes the accusative suffix -i to become sekizi, followed by çeyrek (quarter) and geçe (passing).
The word geçe and the main verb geçti look very similar. Are they related?
Yes, they both come from the verb geçmek (to pass). Geçe is an adverbial form used specifically in time phrases to mean 'passing', while geçti is simply the standard past tense meaning 'passed'. Because of this, the sentence literally sounds like the runner 'passed' the checkpoint 'passing' eight by a quarter.
Why does tempo have the ending -suna before rağmen?
The word rağmen (despite) always requires the word before it to be in the dative case (to/towards). Temposuna breaks down into tempo + -su (his pace) + buffer -n- + dative -a.
Why does koşucu (runner) have the suffix -su in maraton koşucusu?
This is a standard Turkish noun compound. When combining two nouns to create a new compound concept like 'marathon runner', the second noun must take a possessive suffix. Since koşucu ends in a vowel, it takes the 3rd-person possessive suffix -su.
Why is the word for checkpoint (nokta) written as noktayı here?
The checkpoint is the specific direct object that the runner passed. Therefore, nokta requires the accusative case. It gets the buffer letter -y- followed by the accusative suffix -ı.
Learn Yavaş temposuna rağmen maraton koşucusu noktayı sekizi çeyrek geçe geçti and more in Turkish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free