Breakdown of Sekreter, değil bozuk makineyi tamir etmek, çıktı almayı bile denemez.
değil
not
almak
to take, to buy
sekreter
secretary
denemek
to try / to try on
tamir etmek
to repair
makine
machine
bile
even
bozuk
broken, out of order
çıktı
printout
Questions & Answers about Sekreter, değil bozuk makineyi tamir etmek, çıktı almayı bile denemez.
How does the değil ... bile structure work here to mean 'let alone'?
To say 'let alone doing X, they don't even do Y', you put değil before the bigger or harder action in its plain infinitive form, which here is tamir etmek. Then you state the smaller or easier action followed by bile (even) and a negative verb. It builds the literal logic: 'Not to fix the broken machine, they don't even try to get a printout.'
Why does çıktı alma have the accusative case ending (-yı) while tamir etmek doesn't?
The main verb of the sentence is denemez (doesn't try). Because you try 'something', the action being tried must take the accusative case. This makes çıktı almayı the direct object of the sentence. The first action, tamir etmek, is just part of the değil phrase establishing the contrast, so it stays in the plain dictionary form.
Why is it çıktı almayı rather than just çıktıyı?
Çıktı is just the noun for 'printout'. To express the action of 'printing' or 'getting a printout', Turkish uses the compound verb çıktı almak. Since we need the action of getting a printout to be the object of the verb denemez, we use the short infinitive alma and add the accusative suffix to it.
Why use the negative aorist tense in denemez instead of the present continuous denemiyor?
The aorist tense (-mAz in the negative) is used to express a general habit, characteristic, or absolute rule. Using denemez implies the secretary is generally unhelpful or never tries as a matter of habit. If we used denemiyor, it would mean the secretary is simply not trying to do it right at this specific moment.
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