Breakdown of Vurguyu nasıl anlatsam, kavramıyorlar.
anlatmak
to explain, to tell
nasıl
how
vurgu
stress / emphasis (linguistic or importance)
kavramak
to grasp / to comprehend
Questions & Answers about Vurguyu nasıl anlatsam, kavramıyorlar.
How does nasıl anlatsam mean "no matter how I explain"? Shouldn't it mean "if I explain how"?
In Turkish, you form "no matter [question word]" by pairing a question word (like nasıl, how) with a verb in the conditional tense (-sA). So nasıl + anlat-sa-m literally translates as "how if I explain," but it functions as the universal conditional "no matter how I explain."
Why does vurgu (stress) take the ending -(y)u here?
Because it is the specific direct object of the verb anlatsam (explain). To say you are explaining the stress, you need the definite accusative case. Since vurgu ends in a vowel, it takes the buffer letter y followed by u due to vowel harmony, becoming vurguyu.
I learned the negative suffix is -ma or -me. Why is it kavramıyorlar with an ı?
The verb is kavramak (to grasp), and its negative stem is indeed kavrama-. However, Turkish has a rule called vowel narrowing: when a verb stem ends in a or e and is followed by the present continuous -yor suffix, that vowel narrows to ı, i, u, or ü. Therefore, kavrama-yor-lar changes to kavramıyorlar.
Why use kavramıyorlar instead of anlamıyorlar here?
Anlamak means "to understand" in a general sense, while kavramak means "to grasp" or "to fully comprehend" something conceptual. Either verb would work here, but kavramak emphasizes that the listeners just can't quite wrap their heads around the concept of the stress.
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