Breakdown of Onun işi, faturaları zımbalamaktan ve dosyaları ciltlemekten ibaretmiş.
o
that / he / she / it
iş
work
ve
and
dosya
file
fatura
bill
ibaret
composed of / consisting of
zımbalamak
to staple
ciltlemek
to bind (documents)
Questions & Answers about Onun işi, faturaları zımbalamaktan ve dosyaları ciltlemekten ibaretmiş.
Why do zımbalamak (stapling) and ciltlemek (binding) take the ablative suffix (-tan / -ten)?
They take the ablative case because of the word ibaret (consisting of). In Turkish, to express that something "consists of" something else, the preceding noun or verbal noun must be in the ablative case (-dan / -den). Literally, the structure translates as "consists from stapling and binding."
Why is the hearsay suffix -miş attached to ibaret, making it ibaretmiş?
The -miş here is the evidential form of the "to be" verb (short for imiş). It adds the meaning of "reportedly" or "apparently." It shows that the speaker didn't witness what the job entailed firsthand, but rather heard about it from someone else or realized it after the fact.
Why are faturaları and dosyaları in the accusative case here?
Even though the verbs zımbalamak and ciltlemek are acting as nouns (infinitives) in this sentence, they still behave like verbs internally and take their own direct objects. Because the sentence refers to specific invoices and specific files being handled, they get the definite accusative -ı ending.
Since they are connected by ve (and), could I drop the -tan on the first verb and just say zımbalamak ve ciltlemekten?
You might hear this in very casual, fast spoken Turkish, but it's generally considered bad style or grammatically incomplete. When you connect two items with ve that are both governed by a word requiring a specific case (like ibaret), standard Turkish requires you to put the case ending on both of them.
Learn Onun işi, faturaları zımbalamaktan ve dosyaları ciltlemekten ibaretmiş and more in Turkish
All course content and exercises are completely free — no paywalls, no trial periods, no signup needed.
- ✓ Practice with interactive exercises
- ✓ Track your progress with spaced repetition
- ✓Learn at your own pace — completely free