Breakdown of Onu ağacın arkasında saklanırken sobeledik.
o
that / he / she / it
ağaç
tree
arka
back
saklanmak
to hide oneself
sobelemek
to tag / to catch out
Questions & Answers about Onu ağacın arkasında saklanırken sobeledik.
Usually, -(y)ken refers to the subject of the sentence. How do we know that "he" is the one hiding here, and not "we"?
You're right that -(y)ken (while) typically describes an action done by the subject. However, with verbs of perception, discovery, or catching (like sobelemek, görmek, or yakalamak), -(y)ken frequently modifies the direct object instead. Here, the accusative object is onu (him). Because of the verb's meaning, it naturally translates to catching him in the act of hiding.
What kind of verb is sobeledik? Is it used in everyday adult conversation?
Sobelemek comes from the exclamation sobe!, which is what Turkish children yell when they tag someone or touch the base in hide-and-seek. It literally means "to tag." While it belongs to children's games, adults often use it playfully in daily life when they catch someone red-handed or surprise someone doing something secretive.
Could I use the present continuous tense here and say saklanıyorken instead of the aorist saklanırken?
Yes, you absolutely can. When attaching -ken to a verb to mean "while doing," both the aorist (-ır/-er) and the present continuous (-ıyor) are perfectly correct and mean the same thing here. Saklanırken is just a bit shorter and very common in everyday speech.
Why is it ağacın arkasında with the genitive case, rather than just ağaç arkasında?
Using the genitive ending -ın on ağaç makes it a specific, definite tree: "behind the tree." If you used the indefinite compound ağaç arkasında, it would mean "behind a tree" in a general sense. In the context of a game where the players know their surroundings, referring to a specific tree is much more natural.
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