Learn Turkish: Bir ülke ancak ürettiği oranda zenginleşir. - A country gets rich only in proportion to what it produces.

This structure is used to express "in proportion to" or "to the extent that". It combines the verb üretmek (to produce) with the -dik participle and a 3rd person possessive suffix, giving us ürettiği (that it produces). The word oran means "proportion" or "rate", and adding the locative case (-da) gives us oranda. Together, ürettiği oranda literally means "at the proportion that it produces".

I usually see ancak translated as "however". Why does it mean "only" here?

While ancak often translates to "however" or "but" when used as a conjunction linking two clauses, it acts as an adverb here. When placed before a phrase or verb to restrict its meaning, ancak translates to "only", "merely", or "barely". In this sentence, ancak ürettiği oranda means "only in proportion to what it produces".

How does the word zenginleşir get the meaning of "gets rich"?

It is built from the adjective zengin (rich). The suffix -leş is a very common ending that attaches to nouns or adjectives to mean "to become [that thing]" (for example, güzel to güzelleşmek, meaning "to become beautiful"). Therefore, zenginleşmek means "to become rich".

Why does the verb zenginleşir use the aorist tense () instead of the present continuous ()?