Breakdown of İki oyuncu kuliste birbirine denk geldiğinde tartıştı.
iki
two
birbiri
each other / one another
tartışmak
to discuss / to argue
oyuncu
actor / player
kulis
backstage
denk gelmek
to coincide / to happen at the same time
Questions & Answers about İki oyuncu kuliste birbirine denk geldiğinde tartıştı.
How is geldiğinde formed to mean "when they bumped into"?
It uses the temporal clause structure you are learning in this lesson! We take the verb root gel, add the suffix -diğ (a softened form of -dik), then the 3rd person possessive suffix -i (referring to the actors), and finally the locative case suffix -nde (meaning "in" or "at"). Literally, it means "at the time of their coming (bumping)".
Since there are two actors, why isn't it İki oyuncular, and why does geldiğinde use the singular possessive -i instead of the plural -leri?
This is a great time for a quick refresher: in Turkish, whenever you put a specific number before a noun, the noun must remain singular. Because iki oyuncu is grammatically singular, the verbs and possessive suffixes connected to it (like the -i in geldiğinde) usually take the singular form as well.
What does the phrase denk gelmek mean here?
denk gelmek is a very common idiomatic verb that means "to coincide", "to chance upon", or "to run into". When used with people, as in this sentence, it means "to bump into" someone.
Why does birbiri (each other) have the -ne ending to make birbirine?
The verb phrase denk gelmek requires the dative case (the "to/towards" direction). To say you bumped into someone, the person being bumped into takes the dative suffix. Since birbiri already ends in a vowel, it takes the buffer letter n and the dative suffix -e, becoming birbirine.
Why is the past tense ending on tartıştı spelled with a "t" instead of a "d"?
This is due to consonant mutation (often remembered by the "Fıstıkçı Şahap" rule). The verb root tartış ends in the voiceless consonant ş. Voiceless consonants force following suffixes that start with c, d, or g to change to their hard equivalents ç, t, or k. Therefore, the past tense -dı becomes -tı.
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