Breakdown of İyi ki yanılmadın, yoksa kaza yapacaktık.
yapmak
to do / to make
kaza
accident
yoksa
otherwise / or else
iyi ki
fortunately / it is a good thing that
yanılmak
to be mistaken
kaza yapmak
to have an accident
Questions & Answers about İyi ki yanılmadın, yoksa kaza yapacaktık.
Does iyi ki require a specific verb tense or mood here?
No, and that is what makes it easy to use! İyi ki (fortunately / it is a good thing that) simply goes in front of a regular, conjugated verb. Here it pairs with the standard past tense yanılmadın (you were not mistaken) to express relief about a fact.
Why use yapmak (to make/do) with kaza?
In Turkish, you do not "have" a car accident like you do in English; you "make" one. The fixed expression for getting into an accident is kaza yapmak.
How does yapacaktık translate to "we would have had"?
Yapacaktık combines the future suffix -acak and the past tense suffix -tı (followed by the "we" ending -k). Literally meaning "we were going to do," this future-in-the-past combination is exactly how Turkish expresses "would have" for something that was set to happen but was ultimately avoided.
Doesn't yoksa literally mean "if there isn't"? How does it mean "otherwise"?
Exactly! It is made of yok (non-existent / there is not) and the conditional suffix -sa (if). While literally meaning "if it is not so," it has become the standard conjunction for "otherwise" or "or else" to introduce what would happen if the first statement weren't true.
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