Learn Turkish: Dün az kalsın bileğini burkuyordun, bir yerin incindi mi? - You almost sprained your ankle yesterday, are you hurt anywhere?

In Turkish, to express that an action almost happened but was ultimately averted, we pair phrases like az kalsın or neredeyse with the past continuous tense (-yordu). It literally describes you 'being in the process of spraining' it before the action was interrupted or prevented.

Doesn't bilek mean 'wrist'? How do we know it means 'ankle' here?

Bilek can mean both the wrist (the joint of the hand) and the ankle (the joint of the foot). Context usually gives it away, as sprains often happen to ankles while walking. If you need to be completely unambiguous, you can say el bileği for wrist and ayak bileği for ankle.

Can you break down the suffixes on the word bileğini?

Sure! It starts with the root word bilek (ankle/wrist). When we add the second-person possessive suffix -in (your), consonant mutation occurs, changing the 'k' to 'ğ' (bileğin). Finally, because it is the specific direct object of the verb burkuyordun, we add the accusative suffix -i, resulting in bileğini.

What is the literal translation of bir yerin incindi mi?