Breakdown of Üzümler donacak diye korkuyorduk ama mahzende uyuyakaldık.
korkmak
to fear
ama
but
uyuyakalmak
to oversleep / to fall asleep (unintentionally)
donmak
to freeze
diye
saying / asking / that (quoting)
üzüm
grape
mahzen
cellar
Questions & Answers about Üzümler donacak diye korkuyorduk ama mahzende uyuyakaldık.
Why is 'donacak' in the future tense if the translation says 'would freeze' in the past?
In Turkish, fears about what might happen are expressed as if you are quoting your own thoughts at that moment. You were essentially thinking, 'The grapes will freeze!' (Üzümler donacak!). We then use diye (thinking/saying that) followed by the main verb korkuyorduk (we were afraid).
How is 'uyuyakaldık' different from just saying 'uyuduk'?
uyuyakaldık uses the special compound verb structure -(y)Akalmak, which means to do something unintentionally or to get stuck in an action. While uyuduk simply means 'we slept', uyuyakaldık specifically means 'we accidentally fell asleep' or 'we dozed off'.
Why do we use the past continuous for 'korkuyorduk' but the simple past for 'uyuyakaldık'?
korkuyorduk uses the continuous suffix -uyor plus the past suffix -du to describe an ongoing state in the past ('we were fearing'). uyuyakaldık is a sudden, completed event ('we fell asleep') that happened while that state was ongoing, so it just takes the simple past -dı.
Does the 'diye' clause only apply to 'üzümler donacak'?
Yes. diye wraps up everything before it as the specific fear. The phrase Üzümler donacak diye acts as the reason for your fear. The conjunction ama (but) then cleanly starts a brand new independent clause.
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