Questions & Answers about Dükkânı yağmalayan yağmalayana.
How does yağmalayan yağmalayana translate to "people are looting left and right"?
This is a special idiom using the subject participle -An. The pattern is [Verb]-An [Verb]-An-(y)A. Literally, it means "the one who loots to the one who loots." In Turkish, repeating a participle like this, with the second one in the dative case (-a or -e), paints a picture of a chaotic frenzy where everyone in a crowd is doing that action.
Where is the main verb in this sentence?
There isn't a traditional conjugated verb! The repeated participle structure yağmalayan yağmalayana acts as the entire predicate of the sentence. You can imagine an invisible "to be" copula (-dır) at the end, implying "The situation is a looting frenzy."
Why does dükkân take the accusative case (dükkânı)?
Because it is the specific direct object being looted. Even though yağmalamak (to loot) is functioning as a noun-like participle here (yağmalayan), it still behaves like a verb internally and assigns the accusative case to its direct object.
Can I use this -An -An-(y)A structure with any verb to mean people are doing it everywhere?
Yes, it works with almost any action verb to describe a chaotic crowd! For example, kaçan kaçana (people fleeing everywhere in a stampede) or ağlayan ağlayana (everyone crying their eyes out).
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