Breakdown of Gurbette, o eski müdavimleri ister istemez özleyeceğim.
o
that / he / she / it
özlemek
to miss (someone/something)
eski
old
ister istemez
inevitably / whether one likes it or not
müdavim
regular customer
gurbet
being away from home, exile
Questions & Answers about Gurbette, o eski müdavimleri ister istemez özleyeceğim.
How does the phrase ister istemez work grammatically here?
It literally translates to 'wanting or not wanting'. It is a common adverbial structure formed by using a verb in the positive aorist tense (verb + -r) immediately followed by the same verb in the negative aorist (verb + -mAz). It means 'inevitably', 'willy-nilly', or 'whether one wants to or not'.
Why is gurbette translated as a time clause ('when I'm away from home') instead of a physical location?
Gurbet is a culturally significant noun meaning 'a place away from one's homeland or family' or the state of living in a foreign place. By adding the locative suffix -te, gurbette literally means 'in a state/place of being away from home'. In English, it usually sounds more natural to express this state of being as a time clause rather than saying 'in exile'.
Why is there an -i at the end of müdavimleri?
It is the accusative case suffix. The base word is müdavim (a regular, like a regular customer at a cafe), made plural with -ler. Because the speaker is referring to specific, defined regulars—indicated by the pointing word o (those)—the specific direct object suffix -i is required by the verb özlemek (to miss).
Since özleyeceğim ends with the verb root özle- and a -y- buffer, shouldn't the e narrow to an i in spelling?
While native speakers almost always pronounce it with a narrowed vowel (sounding like 'özliyeceğim' or 'özliycem'), the standard spelling rules dictate that the future suffix -ecek does not cause the preceding vowel to narrow in writing. Vowel narrowing in writing only happens before the present continuous suffix -yor (as in özlüyor).
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