Breakdown of Kostümü parladığında oyuncu sahnede gülümsedi mi?
gülümsemek
to smile
mi
question particle (mı/mi/mu/mü)
sahne
stage
oyuncu
actor / player
Questions & Answers about Kostümü parladığında oyuncu sahnede gülümsedi mi?
How is the word parladığında formed to mean "when it shone"?
It is built on the verb root parla (shine). To say "when [something] happens/happened", we add the participle suffix -dık (which softens to -dığ here due to the following vowel), then the third-person possessive suffix -ı (its), and finally the locative case suffix -nda (at/on). Literally, it translates to "at the time of its shining".
Why does parladığında use the third-person possessive suffix (-ı) if oyuncu (the actor) is the one smiling?
In Turkish "when" clauses, the possessive suffix matches the subject of that specific action, not the subject of the main sentence. Here, it was the costume (kostümü) that shone, so the verb takes the third-person possessive -ı to mean "when it shone".
Doesn't kostümü just mean "the costume"? How do we know it means "his costume"?
The suffix -ü on kostüm can be either the definite accusative (the costume) or the third-person possessive (his/her/its costume). Because it acts as the subject of the "when" clause (parladığında), it cannot take the accusative case. Subjects of these clauses never take the accusative, so kostümü must be possessive here: "his costume".
What is the difference between using güldü and gülümsedi?