Breakdown of Herkes bir ganimet bulmuştu, poşetleri çekiştiren çekiştirene.
bir
a / an
bulmak
to find
poşet
plastic bag
herkes
everyone
Questions & Answers about Herkes bir ganimet bulmuştu, poşetleri çekiştiren çekiştirene.
How does the phrase çekiştiren çekiştirene translate to 'people are tugging left and right'?
This is a special structure used to describe a chaotic scene where many people are doing the same action. It repeats the subject participle -An (the one who does). The first word çekiştiren means 'the one who tugs', and the second word çekiştirene adds the dative suffix -e, meaning 'to the one who tugs'. Together, the pattern [verb]-An [verb]-An-(y)A paints a picture of action happening everywhere, like 'people tugging left and right' or 'a frenzy of tugging'.
Why use çekiştirmek instead of just çekmek for 'tugging'?
While çekmek simply means 'to pull', the suffix -iş makes it reciprocal or collective, and the causative -tir intensifies it. Çekiştirmek specifically means pulling something in different directions, tugging at it back and forth, or people pulling at the same thing against each other. It perfectly captures the chaos of a crowded scramble for loot.
Why is poşetleri in the accusative case here? What is it the object of?
It is the direct object of the participle çekiştiren. Even though çekiştiren çekiştirene functions as a descriptive phrase for the whole scene, the verb inside it still takes objects just like a regular verb. Since they are tugging at specific bags, poşet gets the plural -ler and the accusative -i.
Why does the first half use the past perfect but the second half feels like it is happening right now?