Breakdown of Öğretmenimiz, en önemli problemin kentsel planlama olduğunu düşünüyor.
öğretmen
teacher
problem
problem
olmak
to be
düşünmek
to think
Questions & Answers about Öğretmenimiz, en önemli problemin kentsel planlama olduğunu düşünüyor.
Why do we use olduğunu here if there is no verb meaning 'to be' in the English translation?
The embedded clause 'the most important problem is urban planning' is a nominal sentence, meaning it has no action verb. To connect this idea to the main verb düşünüyor (thinks), Turkish requires a verb to take the -dık (factive) suffix. We use the helper verb olmak (to be) as a bridge. It takes the -dık suffix, the 3rd-person possessive -u to agree with the subject, and the accusative case -nu because the verb düşünmek requires its specific object to be in the accusative case.
Why does problem take the genitive suffix -in to become problemin?
In Turkish, when a sentence is turned into a noun clause using -dık (like olduğunu here), the subject of that embedded clause must take the genitive case. Since 'the most important problem' is the subject of what the teacher thinks, it becomes en önemli problemin, linking directly to the possessive suffix on olduğu. Literally, this translates to 'the most important problem's being urban planning'.
What does the suffix -sel do in the word kentsel?
The suffix -sel (or -sal) is attached to nouns to form adjectives meaning 'pertaining to' or 'related to', much like '-al' or '-ic' in English. Here, it attaches to the noun kent (city) to create the adjective kentsel (urban).