Breakdown of Problemleri çözmek şöyle dursun, bu kaosla başa çıkamayacağız.
bu
this
problem
problem
ile
with / by / and (linking nouns)
çözmek
to solve
kaos
chaos (loanword)
şöyle dursun
let alone / never mind (much less)
başa çıkmak
to cope with / to deal with (successfully manage)
Questions & Answers about Problemleri çözmek şöyle dursun, bu kaosla başa çıkamayacağız.
How does şöyle dursun work in this sentence, and could I use bir yana instead?
Şöyle dursun literally means 'let it stand like that,' but it is used to mean 'let alone' or 'never mind.' It follows the infinitive çözmek to dismiss the idea of solving the problems as highly unlikely, emphasizing the difficulty of the main action (coping with the chaos). Yes, you can replace it perfectly with bir yana here.
Why do we use the accusative case in problemleri if it is placed before an infinitive (çözmek) rather than a main conjugated verb?
Infinitives in Turkish still act like verbs when it comes to the objects they take. Since we are talking about solving the specific problems, çözmek requires its direct object to be in the accusative case (-i).
What makes up the verb çıkamayacağız?
It comes from the idiom başa çıkmak, meaning 'to cope with' or 'to deal with.' The word breaks down as çık (verb root) + ama (inability marker 'cannot') + yacak (future tense, with the 'k' mutating to 'ğ') + ız ('we' personal ending).
Why does kaos have the -la ending here?
The idiom başa çıkmak requires the thing you are coping with to take the instrumental case (-la/-le or ile), which is very similar to how we say 'cope with' in English. Therefore, bu kaosla means 'with this chaos.'
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