Breakdown of Sözde şövalye kılıcıyla ejderhaya saldırmışmış.
ile
with / by / and (linking nouns)
kılıç
sword
ejderha
dragon
saldırmak
to attack
sözde
so-called
şövalye
knight
Questions & Answers about Sözde şövalye kılıcıyla ejderhaya saldırmışmış.
Why does the verb end in -mışmış instead of just -mış?
This double -mış is the compound inferential of disbelief or sarcasm, which is the focus of this lesson. The first -mış is the standard evidential past tense (meaning you heard about the attack). The second -mış adds heavy skepticism, irony, or sarcasm. It shows that the speaker is reporting the claim but thinks it is completely ridiculous or untrue.
Since -mışmış already shows disbelief, why is the word sözde in the sentence?
Sözde reinforces the sarcasm, but it specifically targets the noun next to it. It translates to "so-called" or "supposedly." So sözde şövalye means "the so-called knight." While -mışmış expresses disbelief about the action (the attacking), sözde expresses disbelief about the person's status as a real knight.
Why is the dragon in the dative case (ejderhaya) instead of the accusative case (ejderhayı)?
In English, you attack a direct object, but the Turkish verb saldırmak (to attack) always takes the dative case (-e or -a). You can think of it as directing your aggression towards a target. Since ejderha ends in a vowel, it needs the buffer consonant -y- before the dative suffix -a.
Can you break down the suffixes on kılıcıyla?
The root is kılıç (sword). First, it takes the 3rd person possessive suffix -ı meaning "his." Adding this vowel causes the hard ç to soften into a c, making it kılıcı (his sword). Then, the instrumental suffix -yla (with) is attached, giving us "with his sword."
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