Breakdown of Dün az kalsın bileğini burkuyordun, bir yerin incindi mi?
bir
a / an
yer
place / space / room (unoccupied space, capacity)
dün
yesterday
mi
question particle (mı/mi/mu/mü)
bilek
wrist / ankle
burkmak
to sprain
az kalsın
almost / nearly
incinmek
to be hurt / to be injured
Questions & Answers about Dün az kalsın bileğini burkuyordun, bir yerin incindi mi?
Why is burkuyordun in the past continuous tense (-yordu) if the translation says 'almost sprained'?
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?
It literally translates to 'Did a place of yours get hurt?'. Yer means 'place', and yerin means 'your place'. In Turkish, asking about bir yerin is the standard, natural way to ask 'Are you hurt anywhere?' or 'Did you hurt any part of your body?'.
Why does the sentence use incindi instead of incittin?
İncinmek is an intransitive verb meaning 'to get hurt' or 'to be injured', whereas incitmek is transitive, meaning 'to hurt (something)'. Since the grammatical subject of the clause is your body part (bir yerin), we must use the intransitive incindi (Did it get hurt?). If you used incittin, you would be asking if the person hurt something else.
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