Question 1

Why do both araba and garaj take the possessive suffix (-sı / -ı) if kendi already means "own"?

Accepted Answer

In Turkish, when kendi acts as the modifier "own" before a noun, it doesn't replace the possessive suffix. It merely emphasizes it. You must still attach the correct possessive suffix to the noun to show whose it is. That is why we have kendi araba-sı (his own car) and kendi garaj-ı (his own garage).

Question 2

Could we say kendisinin arabasının instead of kendi arabasının here?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but the grammar structure changes slightly. Kendi directly modifies the noun like an adjective, whereas kendisinin is a pronoun in the genitive case meaning "of himself". Both are grammatically correct and mean the same thing, but kendi + noun + possessive is the most common and natural way to say "one's own [noun]".

Question 3

There are a lot of suffixes stacked in arabasının şanzımanını. How does this chain break down?

Accepted Answer

This is a nested possession chain. First, araba-sı-nın means "his car's" (possessive -sı + buffer -n- + genitive -ın). Next, şanzıman-ı-nı is the "gearbox" + possessive -ı (belonging to the car) + buffer -n- + accusative -ı. The accusative is required at the very end because the entire phrase "his own car's gearbox" is the direct object being inspected.

Question 4

The dictionary form of the verb is incelemek. Why does it become inceliyor instead of inceleyor?

Accepted Answer

This is a classic case of vowel narrowing. Whenever a verb stem ends in a wide vowel like -e or -a, adding the present continuous -yor suffix causes that final vowel to "narrow" into -i, -ı, -u, or -ü. Here, the final -e in incele- narrows to an -i.

Kendi arabasının şanzımanını kendi garajında inceliyor.

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