Breakdown of Bu fobi yüzünden rezil olmaktan korkuyor musun?
bu
this
korkmak
to fear
olmak
to be
mi
question particle (mı/mi/mu/mü)
yüzünden
because of (negative cause)
fobi
phobia
rezil
disgraced
Questions & Answers about Bu fobi yüzünden rezil olmaktan korkuyor musun?
Why do we add the ablative ending -tan to the infinitive olmak here?
The verb korkmak (to fear / to be afraid) always requires the thing you are afraid of to take the ablative case (-dan/-den). To express being afraid of doing an action, you simply attach the ablative ending to the infinitive (-mak/-mek). Because olmak ends in the hard consonant k, the ending changes to -tan, resulting in olmaktan.
What exactly does rezil olmak mean in this context?
Rezil is an adjective meaning "disgraceful" or "shameful." When paired with the helper verb olmak (to be / to become), rezil olmak forms a very common phrase meaning "to be disgraced," "to be humiliated," or "to make a fool of oneself."
Why is fobi just in its plain form before yüzünden?
The postposition yüzünden (because of / on account of) is used directly with bare nouns, which is why we say bu fobi yüzünden. However, as a quick refresher, remember that if you use yüzünden with personal pronouns, they must take the genitive (possessive) case, such as benim yüzümden (because of me) or senin yüzünden (because of you).
Why is korkuyor musun at the very end of the sentence?
Standard Turkish follows a Subject-Object-Verb word order, meaning the conjugated main verb (korkuyor musun?) goes at the end. Placing rezil olmaktan immediately before the verb puts the focus on exactly what you are afraid of. In casual speech, you might hear people mix up the order, but this sentence uses textbook word order.
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