Breakdown of Gençler teknolojik aletleri çabuk kavrıyor; yaşlılara gelince, onlar bocalıyor.
o
that / he / she / it
genç
young
yaşlı
old (people)
çabuk
quick, quickly
alet
tool
kavramak
to grasp / to comprehend
bocalamak
to falter / to hesitate (out of confusion)
teknolojik
technological
gelince
as for, when it comes to
Questions & Answers about Gençler teknolojik aletleri çabuk kavrıyor; yaşlılara gelince, onlar bocalıyor.
How does yaşlılara gelince translate to "as for the elderly"?
The pattern [Noun or Pronoun] + [Dative ending -(y)a/-(y)e] + gelince literally means "when it comes to [Noun/Pronoun]". It is the standard way to shift topics in Turkish, equivalent to "as for..." or "when it comes to..." in English. Here, yaşlılar (the elderly) takes the dative suffix -a to become yaşlılara.
Since yaşlılara gelince already introduces the elderly, why is the pronoun onlar (they) used right after it?
The phrase yaşlılara gelince sets the new topic, but the following clause still needs a grammatical subject. While Turkish often drops subject pronouns, including onlar here strongly emphasizes the contrast between the youth (gençler) and the elderly.
Why are the verbs spelled kavrıyor and bocalıyor instead of "kavrayor" and "bocalayor"?
This is a great reminder of vowel narrowing. The dictionary forms of these verbs are kavramak (to grasp) and bocalamak (to struggle). When the present continuous suffix -yor is added to a verb root ending in a or e, that final vowel narrows to ı, i, u, or ü. Therefore, kavra-yor becomes kavrıyor and bocala-yor becomes bocalıyor.
Can the verb kavramak be used for both physically grabbing something and mentally understanding it?
Yes! Just like the English word "grasp", kavramak means to physically grip something, but it is very commonly used metaphorically to mean comprehending a concept or figuring out how a tool works, which is exactly how it is used here with teknolojik aletleri.
Learn Gençler teknolojik aletleri çabuk kavrıyor; yaşlılara gelince, onlar bocalıyor and more in Turkish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free