Question 1

What does mekik çekmek literally mean, and why is it used for "doing sit-ups"?

Accepted Answer

Mekik refers to a weaver's "shuttle" (the tool that carries thread back and forth on a loom). Mekik çekmek literally translates to "to pull the shuttle." It is the standard Turkish idiom for doing sit-ups or crunches, likely because the repetitive up-and-down motion of the torso resembles a shuttle moving back and forth on a loom.

Question 2

How would I change this sentence to say "Compared to carbohydrates" using this lesson's grammar?

Accepted Answer

To say "Compared to...", you drop the ablative case (-tAn) and sonra, and instead use the dative case (-A) plus kıyasla or oranla. The sentence would become: Karbonhidrata kıyasla mekik çekmek zor. (Compared to carbohydrates, doing sit-ups is hard.)

Question 3

If I add the dative vowel suffix to make karbonhidrata (compared to carbohydrates), why doesn't the final "t" mutate to "d"?

Accepted Answer

Although Turkish normally softens a final p, ç, t, k when a vowel suffix is added, karbonhidrat is a foreign loanword. Many Arabic and Western loanwords ending in -t (like hayat or karbonhidrat) are exceptions to the consonant mutation rule. Therefore, it remains a hard t even between vowels.

Question 4

Why is mekik çekmek just left in its dictionary (infinitive) form here?

Accepted Answer

The entire action of "doing sit-ups" acts as the subject of the sentence here. In Turkish, when a general action is the subject of an adjective predicate (like "Doing X is hard" or "Swimming is fun"), you simply leave the verb in its standard -mAk infinitive form without adding any personal endings.

Karbonhidrattan sonra mekik çekmek zor.

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