Breakdown of İkinci yarıyı seyretmezdi.
ikinci
second (2nd, ordinal)
seyretmek
to watch (= izlemek)
yarı
half (one of two parts); half-time
Questions & Answers about İkinci yarıyı seyretmezdi.
The lesson is on the habitual past, but this verb is negative. How is the negative formed in seyretmezdi?
Instead of the affirmative aorist suffix (like -er or -ir), it uses the negative aorist suffix -mez. Then, the past tense suffix -di is added to show it was a past habit. Together, seyret-mez-di means "he used to not watch" or "he would not watch".
Why is the object yarıyı instead of just yarı?
The verb seyretmek (to watch) targets a specific direct object here—he is watching the second half, not just any half. This requires the accusative case. Because yarı (half) ends in a vowel, it needs the buffer letter -y- before taking the accusative suffix -ı.
I see the verb comes from seyretmek, but isn't the noun for viewing seyir? What happened to the 'i'?
Seyretmek is a compound verb made from the noun seyir and the helper verb etmek (to do). When they are combined into a single word, the narrow vowel in the second syllable of seyir drops out. This is a common sound rule for certain nouns when they merge with helper verbs.
How does the word ikinci work to mean "second"?
Ordinal numbers (first, second, third) are formed by adding the suffix -(I)ncI to a number. Because iki (two) already ends in a vowel, it simply takes -nci to become ikinci (second).
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