Word
Komşuları dikizlemeyi bırak!
Meaning
Stop peeping at the neighbors!
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Komşuları dikizlemeyi bırak!
bırakmak
to leave (something somewhere), to drop off / to release, to let go of / to quit / to stop (doing something)
komşu
neighbor
dikizlemek
to peep at
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Questions & Answers about Komşuları dikizlemeyi bırak!
Since the lesson is about using '-(y)ken', why don't we say 'Komşuları dikizlerken bırak'?
The converb '-(y)ken' is used with verbs of perception or discovery to mean 'catching or seeing someone while they do something'. The verb bırakmak (to stop/quit) doesn't work this way. You aren't saying 'leave them while they are peeping', but rather 'stop the action of peeping itself'. To say 'stop doing [X]', Turkish uses the short infinitive verbal noun (-me / -ma) plus the accusative case (-(y)i), which gives us dikizlemeyi.
Why are there two accusative endings in this sentence (komşuları and dikizlemeyi)?
They are objects of two different verbs! Turkish frequently uses nested objects like this. Komşuları is the direct object of the verbal noun dikizleme (peeping at the neighbors). That entire action phrase then takes its own accusative case (dikizlemeyi) because it acts as the direct object of the main imperative verb bırak (stop that action).
I usually translate bırakmak as 'to leave' or 'to drop'. Is it standard to use it for 'stopping' an action?
Yes, it is the standard verb for quitting a habit or stopping an ongoing action, provided it is paired with an accusative verbal noun (-mayı / -meyi bırakmak). A very common real-life example you will hear at this level is sigara içmeyi bıraktım (I quit smoking).
Does dikizlemek imply something negative, or just generally 'watching'?