Breakdown of Onun bu vakfın kurucusu olduğunu biliyorum.
bu
this
o
that / he / she / it
olmak
to be
bilmek
to know
vakıf
foundation (charitable)
kurucu
founder
Questions & Answers about Onun bu vakfın kurucusu olduğunu biliyorum.
How does the agentive suffix work in the word kurucusu?
The root is the verb kurmak (to establish or found). We add the agentive suffix -ucu (which follows 4-way vowel harmony) to create the noun kurucu (founder). Finally, the possessive suffix -su is added because it forms a specific noun compound with the preceding word: vakfın kurucusu (the foundation's founder).
Why is the word for foundation written as vakfın instead of vakıfın?
The dictionary form is vakıf (foundation). It is one of those words that undergo vowel dropping when you add a suffix starting with a vowel. Adding the genitive suffix -ın causes the second ı in the root to drop, resulting in vakfın.
Can you break down the suffixes on olduğunu?
It starts with the verb root ol- (to be) plus the participle suffix -duk (turning the verb into a noun clause). Then comes the possessive suffix -u (matching the genitive subject onun), followed by the buffer letter -n-, and finally the accusative suffix -u, marking the whole clause as the direct object of biliyorum (I know).
Why is the first word onun in the genitive case?
In Turkish subordinate clauses formed with -dık (like olduğunu), the subject of that inner clause takes the genitive case. So, "that she is" translates literally to something like "her being", which is why o (she) becomes onun (her).
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