Breakdown of Tam dolabın kulpunu çekecektim ki ayağım kaydı ve bileğimi burktum.
dolap
cupboard
ve
and
tam
exactly / fully / completely
ayak
foot
Questions & Answers about Tam dolabın kulpunu çekecektim ki ayağım kaydı ve bileğimi burktum.
How does the Tam ... -ecektim ki structure translate to "I was just about to ... when"?
Tam means "exactly" or "just," and çekecektim is the future in the past ("I was going to pull"). Adding the Persian conjunction ki right after it introduces a sudden, interrupting event, acting like "when" does in this English structure. Together, Tam [verb]-(y)AcAktI ki [result] is the standard formula for "I was just about to [verb] when [result] happened."
Let's break down the suffixes in kulpunu. Why are there two u's?
It is part of the possessive chain dolabın kulpu (the cabinet's handle). The first -u is the 3rd person possessive suffix. Because pulling the handle makes it the specific direct object of the verb çekmek, we also need the accusative case. We add the buffer letter -n-, followed by the accusative -u, resulting in kulpunu.
Why does dolap soften to dolabın, but kulp doesn't change to kulbu?