Breakdown of Bu formasyon sadece sarkıtlardan ibaret değil, aynı zamanda mermer de içeriyor.
bu
this
değil
not
de
too, also (de/da) / even if (concessive particle after conditional) / and (linking clauses)
sadece
only, just
Questions & Answers about Bu formasyon sadece sarkıtlardan ibaret değil, aynı zamanda mermer de içeriyor.
How is the "composed of" structure formed in this sentence?
The concept of "composed of" or "consisting of" is created using the ablative case ending -dan followed by the word ibaret. Here, sarkıtlardan ibaret means "composed of stalactites". Because the sentence is negative, it is followed by değil to mean "is not composed of".
Is sadece... değil, aynı zamanda... a fixed structure?
Yes, this is the standard Turkish equivalent of the English "not only... but also" structure. Sadece [X] değil, aynı zamanda [Y] translates literally to "Not only [X], but at the same time [Y]". It smoothly connects the two facts about the cave formation.
If we already have aynı zamanda (at the same time / also), why is there a de in mermer de?
It is very common in Turkish to pair aynı zamanda with the additive particle de (or da). While it might feel redundant to an English speaker to say "also it contains marble too", the de adds natural emphasis to the newly introduced element (the marble) and perfectly balances the first half of the sentence.
What is the root of the word sarkıtlardan?