Breakdown of Mızrak yapmak için çabalıyorduk.
yapmak
to do / to make
için
for
çabalamak
to strive
mızrak
spear
Questions & Answers about Mızrak yapmak için çabalıyorduk.
How does the verb çabalıyorduk break down, and why is there an 'ı' before the -yor suffix?
The root comes from the noun çaba (effort), which becomes the verb çabalamak (to strive or struggle). When we add the continuous suffix -yor, the final -a in the verb stem naturally narrows to -ı. So, çabala- + -yor + -du (past) + -k (we) gives us çabalıyorduk (we were struggling).
Why is it just mızrak instead of bir mızrak for 'a spear'?
Because the object is non-specific. In Turkish, when focusing on the general category of the action (the concept of spear-making) rather than a specific individual item, we often drop bir (a/an). It still translates naturally to 'We were struggling to make a spear' in English.
Could we use the dative form yapmaya instead of yapmak için here?
Yes! The construction -mAk için literally means 'in order to make.' However, the verb çabalamak also commonly takes the dative infinitive (-mAya). So, saying Mızrak yapmaya çabalıyorduk is perfectly correct and means the exact same thing.
Since this lesson covers negative counterfactual past ability, how would we change this to say 'We couldn't have made a spear'?
You would replace the entire için çabalıyorduk phrase and just conjugate the main verb yapmak. By adding the inability suffix (-ama) and the aorist negative past (-zdık), you get Mızrak yapamazdık (We couldn't have made a spear / We wouldn't have been able to make a spear). Our current sentence instead uses the past continuous (-yorduk) to show an ongoing past effort.
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