Breakdown of Benim tercihim her zaman hücumdan yana.
ben
I
her zaman
always
hücum
offense, attack
tercih
preference / choice
Questions & Answers about Benim tercihim her zaman hücumdan yana.
How exactly does -dan yana translate to "in favor of"?
The word yan means "side". Adding the dative suffix gives us yana (literally "to the side"). When you combine this with a noun in the ablative case (-dan / -den, meaning "from"), the phrase literally translates to something like "from the position of [noun], to its side." In natural English, this simply means "in favor of" or "on the side of."
There is no verb in this sentence. Why doesn't it end with yanadır?
It absolutely can! Adding the third-person "to be" suffix (-dır) to make it yanadır is grammatically correct and slightly more formal. However, Turkish speakers frequently drop this suffix in everyday speech when stating general, present-tense facts. Because the subject is benim tercihim (my preference), the "is" is easily implied without the suffix.
Since tercihim already means "my preference," why include the pronoun benim?
You don't strictly need it; tercihim her zaman hücumdan yana is completely valid. However, including the explicit pronoun benim adds emphasis. In conversations about opinions or strategies (like choosing between attack and defense), adding benim highlights what your specific preference is, often contrasting it with someone else's.
If I wanted to say I am in favor of something ending in a hard consonant, does the suffix change to -tan yana?