Breakdown of Merkezinde sauna olmayan bir tesiste kaldık.
bir
a / an
kalmak
to stay / to be left / to remain (in a state)
olmak
to be
merkez
center
Questions & Answers about Merkezinde sauna olmayan bir tesiste kaldık.
How does olmayan turn this into a 'that does not have' clause?
In Turkish, to say something 'has' or 'does not have' a feature, we use existential sentences with var (there is) and yok (there is not). To turn this into a modifier, var becomes olan and yok becomes olmayan. Therefore, merkezinde sauna yok (there is no sauna in its center) becomes the relative clause merkezinde sauna olmayan (which doesn't have a sauna in its center).
Why is there an extra -in- in merkezinde instead of just saying merkezde?
If you used merkezde, it would simply mean 'in the center' (like a city center). Here, the word is merkez-i-n-de. The -i is the 3rd person possessive suffix indicating 'its center' (belonging to the facility). The -n- is a buffer letter required before adding the locative case -de (in/at) to a possessive suffix.
Why is bir placed after the relative clause rather than at the very beginning of the sentence?
When an adjective or a relative clause modifies a noun alongside the indefinite article bir, the standard word order is [Modifier] + bir + [Noun]. The entire phrase merkezinde sauna olmayan acts as a long adjective modifying tesis. Placing bir at the very start might confuse the listener into thinking it applies only to the word merkezinde.