Breakdown of Bir öğretmen öğrencisini hiç aşağılar mı?
bir
a / an
öğretmen
teacher
öğrenci
student
hiç
at all / any
Questions & Answers about Bir öğretmen öğrencisini hiç aşağılar mı?
The English translation says "Would a teacher ever...", but implies "A teacher would never...". How does the grammar create this strong rhetorical meaning?
This is the core of rhetorical strong negation in Turkish. By combining hiç (ever/at all) with the aorist question form aşağılar mı (would they humiliate?), you create a rhetorical question. Even though the verb is grammatically positive, asking if someone would hiç do something in the aorist tense implies the strong, obvious answer: "Of course they never would!"
What is the root of the verb aşağılar, and how is it formed?
It comes from the directional word aşağı, which means "down" or "below". By adding the verb-forming suffix -la, we get aşağılamak, which literally translates to "to put down" and means "to humiliate" or "to degrade". In this sentence, it takes the aorist suffix -r to become aşağılar.
Can you break down the suffixes on the word öğrencisini?
Certainly! The base word is öğrenci (student). First, we add the third-person possessive suffix -si to mean "his/her student". Next, because this specific student is the direct object of the verb "humiliate", we need the accusative case suffix -i. The letter -n- acts as a buffer consonant between the possessive and the case ending, resulting in öğrencisini.
Why do we use bir before öğretmen but not before öğrencisini?