Breakdown of İyi ki eski romanlar beni bunaltmıyor.
ben
I
roman
novel
eski
old
iyi ki
fortunately / it is a good thing that
bunaltmak
to overwhelm, to stifle
Questions & Answers about İyi ki eski romanlar beni bunaltmıyor.
What is the root of bunaltmıyor and what does the -t do?
The base verb is bunalmak, which means to feel suffocated, depressed, or overwhelmed (an intransitive verb). The -t is a causative suffix, turning it into the transitive verb bunaltmak (to overwhelm or suffocate someone). Because of this causative suffix, it can now take the accusative direct object beni (me).
Does "İyi ki" require a specific verb tense or mood, like "keşke" does?
No. Unlike keşke (if only / I wish), which usually pairs with the conditional/optative mood or past tenses to express wishes or regrets, iyi ki (fortunately / it's a good thing that) states a reality. Therefore, it just takes standard indicative tenses, such as the present continuous (bunaltmıyor) used here.
Why is it spelled bunaltmıyor instead of bunaltmayor?
This is a quick refresher on vowel narrowing (ünlü daralması). When a verb stem (or a suffix like the negative -ma/-me) ends in a wide vowel (a or e) and is followed by -yor, that wide vowel narrows to ı, i, u, or ü. Here, the negative suffix -ma narrows to -mı because of the following y.
Could "İyi ki" be placed at the end of the sentence instead?
Yes, in everyday spoken Turkish you will frequently hear it at the end of a thought for an emotional afterthought: Eski romanlar beni bunaltmıyor, iyi ki. However, placing it at the very beginning is the most standard, grammatically neutral word order.
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