Breakdown of Bu kaosu koordine etmektense, her şeyi iptal edelim.
bu
this
her
every
şey
thing
iptal etmek
to cancel
kaos
chaos (loanword)
koordine etmek
to coordinate
Questions & Answers about Bu kaosu koordine etmektense, her şeyi iptal edelim.
How does etmektense mean "rather than coordinating"?
It uses the structure -mAktAnsa, which combines the infinitive -mAk, the ablative case -tAn ("from"), and the conditional suffix -sa ("if"). Literally, it means something like "if it comes from doing X." In everyday Turkish, attaching -mAktAnsa to a verb is the standard way to say "rather than doing [something]."
How does -mAktAnsa differ from the -mAk bir yana structure taught in this lesson?
-mAk bir yana (let alone / never mind doing X) is used to escalate a contrast, usually highlighting how impossible something is: "Let alone coordinating the chaos, we can't even understand it!" Here, -mAktAnsa doesn't escalate; it simply presents a preference between two choices: "Rather than doing A, let's do B."
Why does the sentence use her şeyi and bu kaosu instead of just her şey and bu kaos?
Both of these are specific direct objects of their verbs. Bu kaos is the object being coordinated, and her şey is the object being canceled. Because they are definite, they both require the accusative case endings (-u for kaosu and -i for şeyi).
Why does the verb etmek change to edelim with a d here?
This is a standard consonant mutation. When verbs ending in a hard t (like etmek or gitmek) get a suffix that starts with a vowel—in this case, the first-person plural "let's" suffix -elim—the t softens into a d.
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