Word
Adam bana yalan söylüyor gibi geldi.
Meaning
It seemed to me like the man was lying.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Adam bana yalan söylüyor gibi geldi.
adam
man
ben
I
söylemek
to say, to sing
yalan
lie (untruth)
Questions & Answers about Adam bana yalan söylüyor gibi geldi.
How does the combination of gibi and geldi create the meaning "it seemed"?
Why is söylüyor in the present continuous tense when the main verb geldi is in the past?
The phrase before gibi acts like a snapshot of your thought at that exact moment. When you were observing the man, your thought was, "He is lying" (yalan söylüyor). Therefore, you use the present continuous tense for that inner thought, even though the realization itself happened in the past (geldi).
Could I use a complex noun clause here, like Adamın yalan söylediği gibi geldi?
No, and that is what makes this structure so convenient! Unlike verbs that require a complex noun clause with possessive endings (for example, Yalan söylediğini biliyorum - I know that he is lying), the gibi gelmek structure simply takes a full, regular sentence right before gibi. You just state adam yalan söylüyor and attach the rest.
Why is bana placed after Adam instead of at the beginning of the sentence?