Breakdown of Hayırseverler bir yana, salona kimse gelmedi.
gelmek
to come
kimse
no one / anyone
salon
hall / large room
bir yana
let alone / aside
Questions & Answers about Hayırseverler bir yana, salona kimse gelmedi.
Does the noun before bir yana need any special case endings?
No, when using a noun with bir yana (meaning "let alone" or "aside from"), it stays in the nominative (bare) case. Here, the plural noun hayırseverler connects directly to bir yana without any case suffixes like -i or -den.
Could I use şöyle dursun instead of bir yana in this sentence?
Yes, they are completely interchangeable for this grammar pattern. Saying Hayırseverler şöyle dursun, salona kimse gelmedi carries the exact same dismissive meaning of "Let alone philanthropists..."
Is the word hayır in hayırseverler the same as the Turkish word for "no"?
They are spelled and pronounced identically, but they have different meanings here. The hayır used in compounds like hayırsever (philanthropist, literally "charity-lover") means "good," "auspicious," or "charity."
Why is the verb gelmedi negative if the English translation says "nobody came"?
Turkish requires negative agreement. When you use a negative-polarity pronoun like kimse (nobody/anybody), the verb must also be in the negative form (gelmedi). A direct translation of the Turkish grammatical logic would be "nobody didn't come."