Word
Gergedanın çamurda serinliyor olması beni şaşırtmadı.
Meaning
It did not surprise me that the rhinoceros is cooling down in the mud.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Gergedanın çamurda serinliyor olması beni şaşırtmadı.
ben
I
olmak
to be
şaşırtmak
to surprise
çamur
mud
Questions & Answers about Gergedanın çamurda serinliyor olması beni şaşırtmadı.
Why use serinliyor olması instead of the simpler serinlemesi?
The simpler serinlemesi (verbal noun + possessive) just states the fact: 'its cooling down'. By using the continuous verb serinliyor plus olması, you add the continuous aspect. It emphasizes that the action is actively ongoing at that very moment. It translates literally to 'its being cooling down'.
Why is the rhino (gergedanın) in the genitive case?
It acts as the subject of the noun clause 'that the rhinoceros is cooling down'. In Turkish, when a whole sentence is turned into a noun clause (using olması here), its subject takes the genitive case (-ın or -nin), and the verbal noun takes a possessive ending (the -sı in olması).
The root verb is serinlemek (to cool down). Why does it become serinliyor with an 'i'?
This happens because of vowel narrowing. When a verb root ends in a wide, unrounded vowel like -a or -e (as in serinle-), and you add the continuous suffix -yor, that final wide vowel narrows to ı, i, u, or ü. Here, the e narrows to an i.
Why does şaşırtmak (to surprise) take beni (accusative) instead of (dative)?