Breakdown of Müttefiklerin saldırıyı kınadığı hakkında bir rapor okudum.
bir
a / an
okumak
to read
rapor
report
hakkında
about, concerning
saldırı
attack
müttefik
ally
kınamak
to condemn
Questions & Answers about Müttefiklerin saldırıyı kınadığı hakkında bir rapor okudum.
How does the grammar of müttefiklerin saldırıyı kınadığı hakkında work to mean "about the allies condemning the attack"?
This is a factive complement clause. The action being talked about (condemning) is turned into a noun phrase using the -dIk suffix. The subject of the action gets the genitive case (müttefiklerin), and the verb gets a possessive suffix (kınadığı). The postposition hakkında simply follows this noun phrase to mean "about [that fact]".
Since müttefiklerin is plural, shouldn't the verb be kınadıkları instead of kınadığı?
Both are correct! In Turkish, when a plural subject has the genitive case, the possessive suffix on the participle can often just be the singular -ı / -i instead of the plural -ları / -leri. Using kınadıkları hakkında would also be perfectly natural here.
Why does saldırı take the accusative -yı inside this structure?
Because it is the specific direct object of the verb kınamak (to condemn) within the sub-clause. Even though the verb has been turned into a noun-like -dIk word, it still acts like a verb toward its own objects. Since it's a specific attack, we use the accusative saldırıyı.
Could I use dair instead of hakkında in this sentence?
Yes, but you have to change the case attached to the clause. While hakkında essentially acts on the noun compound created by the -dIk clause, dair (and ilişkin) requires the dative case. You would have to say müttefiklerin saldırıyı kınadığına dair (notice the dative -na added to kınadığı).
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