Breakdown of Adamın işçilik için istediği miktar ne kadar?
ne
what
adam
man
istemek
to want / to require / to call for
için
for
kadar
as ... as; until, up to
miktar
quantity / amount (general)
işçilik
craftsmanship / workmanship
Questions & Answers about Adamın işçilik için istediği miktar ne kadar?
The lesson is about "ne kadar ... o kadar", so why isn't there an "o kadar" in this sentence?
This sentence serves as a baseline refresher. It uses ne kadar in its basic question form ("how much?"). Reminding yourself that ne kadar inherently means "how much" or "to what extent" will help you understand why it pairs with o kadar ("that much" or "to that extent") to mean "the more... the more..." in the proportional comparison structures you are learning.
Let's review the relative clause: why is it adamın ... istediği miktar instead of adam ... isteyen miktar?
Because "the man" is the subject of the relative clause ("the amount that the man wants"), we use the object participle -dİk. In this structure, the subject takes the genitive suffix (adamın) and the participle takes a possessive suffix (istediği). If we used the subject participle isteyen, it would bizarrely mean "the amount that wants the man"!
How does the word işçilik break down?
It comes from the root iş (work). Adding -çi makes it a profession, işçi (worker). Adding the abstract noun suffix -lik creates işçilik, which means "craftsmanship," "workmanship," or "labor" (specifically in the context of labor costs).
Why is ne kadar at the very end of the sentence?
In Turkish, question words usually sit exactly where the answer would go. Because the answer would be the predicate (e.g., "... miktar yüz lira" meaning "... the amount is 100 lira"), the question phrase ne kadar takes the predicate position at the end. The verb "is" is provided by the understood "zero copula" used for third-person statements.
Learn Adamın işçilik için istediği miktar ne kadar and more in Turkish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free