Breakdown of Hamile kadının aniden baklava ve turşu yiyeceği tuttu.
kadın
woman
ve
and
yemek
to eat
aniden
suddenly
tutmak
to catch / to hold
hamile
pregnant
baklava
baklava
turşu
pickle
Questions & Answers about Hamile kadının aniden baklava ve turşu yiyeceği tuttu.
Why does hamile kadın take the genitive suffix -ın in this sentence?
The "sudden urge" construction (-(y)AcAğI tutmak) works like a possessive compound. The action she has an urge to do is treated as a possessed noun ("her future eating"). Therefore, the subject takes the genitive case (kadının) and the verbal noun takes the possessive suffix (yiyeceği). A literal translation would be "The pregnant woman's going-to-eat took hold."
How exactly is yiyeceği formed from the verb yemek here?
It combines the root ye-, the buffer consonant -y-, the future participle -ecek (which softens to -eceğ-), and the 3rd-person possessive -i. Importantly, the root vowel e in yemek narrows to i because it comes right before the buffer -y-. So, ye + y + ecek + i becomes yiyeceği (rather than yeyeceği).
Why don't baklava and turşu take the accusative case, like baklavayı ve turşuyu?
Because the woman is craving baklava and pickles in a general sense, not specific ones that were previously mentioned. They act as indefinite direct objects of the verbal noun yiyeceği, so they remain in their bare dictionary form and are placed directly before the verbal noun.
If the -(y)AcAğI tutmak structure already implies a "sudden" urge, isn't the word aniden redundant?
It is slightly repetitive, but this is very common and natural in Turkish. While the grammar pattern itself means a sudden or unexpected urge struck, adding aniden (suddenly) emphasizes just how abrupt and out-of-the-blue this pregnancy craving was.
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