Learn Turkish: Ben üniversitede ressam olacaktım, ablamsa memuriyeti tercih etti. - I was going to be a painter at university, whereas my older sister preferred the civil service.

Ben üniversitede ressam olacaktım, ablamsa memuriyeti tercih etti.

I was going to be a painter at university, whereas my older sister preferred the civil service.

Breakdown of Ben üniversitede ressam olacaktım, ablamsa memuriyeti tercih etti.

Questions & Answers about Ben üniversitede ressam olacaktım, ablamsa memuriyeti tercih etti.

How does the ending on ablamsa create the meaning of "whereas my older sister"?

The word is ablam (my older sister) plus the contrastive marker -sa. This is the attached form of ise. When attached to a noun or pronoun, it acts like "as for" or "whereas," shifting the topic to highlight the contrast between your choices.

Since olacaktım already shows "I" with the -m ending, why is the sentence starting with the explicit pronoun Ben?

Subject pronouns are usually dropped in Turkish, but here Ben is used for emphasis. You are setting up a strong contrast between what you wanted to do (Ben...) and what your sister did (ablamsa...).

What gives olacaktım the meaning of an unfulfilled plan ("I was going to be")?

It combines the future tense suffix -acak with the past tense suffix -tı (plus the personal ending -m). This "future in the past" structure talks about intentions or plans that were made in the past, strongly implying they didn't happen.

Why does memuriyet take the accusative ending -i to become memuriyeti?

The compound verb tercih etmek (to prefer) takes a specific direct object in the accusative case here. She didn't just prefer any random job; she preferred "the civil service" as a specific career path.