Breakdown of Onun gitme isteğine rağmen dönme olasılığı var mı?
o
that / he / she / it
var
there is / existent
gitmek
to go
dönmek
to return
Questions & Answers about Onun gitme isteğine rağmen dönme olasılığı var mı?
Why does this sentence use gitme and dönme instead of the dictionary forms gitmek and dönmek?
To link a verb to an abstract noun like istek (desire) or olasılık (probability), Turkish treats the action as a modifier in a noun compound. We use the short verbal noun (-mA) rather than the infinitive (-mAk) to form compounds like gitme isteği (desire to leave) and dönme olasılığı (probability of returning).
Why don't we use the factive -dIk suffix (like gittiği or döndüğü) for these clauses?
The -dIk suffix is used for factual, realized, or certain events. In this sentence, both the leaving and the returning are theoretical or unfulfilled. Abstract concepts of desire (istek) and probability (olasılık) almost always trigger the short -mA verbal noun because the action hasn't actually happened as a concrete fact yet.
How do the suffixes build up to create isteğine?
It starts with the noun istek (desire). To form the compound gitme isteği (desire to leave), we add the possessive suffix -i, which softens the final k to ğ. Finally, because the postposition rağmen (despite) demands the dative case (direction towards), we add the buffer letter -n- and the dative suffix -e.