Breakdown of Hafta sonu büyükannemi ziyaret ettik.
ziyaret etmek
to visit (a person or place)
hafta sonu
weekend
büyükanne
grandmother
Questions & Answers about Hafta sonu büyükannemi ziyaret ettik.
Why is there no suffix for "at" or "on" attached to hafta sonu?
In English, we say "at the weekend" or "on the weekend," but in Turkish, many time expressions like hafta sonu (weekend), yarın (tomorrow), or dün (yesterday) don't need a location suffix like -da or -de. You simply use the phrase on its own to say when something happened.
What are the suffixes attached to büyükanne in the word büyükannemi?
There are two suffixes working together here. First, the possessive -m makes it "my grandmother" (büyükannem). Second, the accusative case -i is added because "my grandmother" is the specific direct object of the verb. Whenever a direct object has a possessive ending (like "my"), it is considered specific and must take the accusative case.
Why is "visited" translated as two words (ziyaret ettik)?
Ziyaret etmek is a compound verb. Ziyaret is a noun meaning "a visit," and the helper verb etmek (to do / to make) turns it into an action. In Turkish, you conjugate the helper verb, which gives us ettik (we did) in the simple past tense for "we" (biz).
How would I change this sentence to say "We had to visit my grandmother" using the grammar from this lesson?
You would take the verb root ziyaret et-, add the short verbal noun suffix -me, and attach the "our" possessive suffix -miz to get ziyaret etmemiz (our visiting). Then, add lazımdı or gerekiyordu (was necessary). The full sentence becomes: Hafta sonu büyükannemi ziyaret etmemiz lazımdı.
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