Breakdown of Dönüşü hafta sonuna kaldı.
kalmak
to stay / to be left / to remain (in a state)
hafta sonu
weekend
dönüş
return
Questions & Answers about Dönüşü hafta sonuna kaldı.
Why does this sentence use dönüş instead of an -Im suffix like dönüm?
The suffix -Iş creates an action noun (the act or manner of returning), which fits "his return" from a trip. The suffix -Im, which you are focusing on in this lesson, typically highlights the result or a measurable instance of an action. For example, dönüm means a physical "turn" or "revolution" (as seen in dönüm noktası, "turning point").
How does the verb kalmak (to stay/remain) translate to "was postponed"?
When an event or task "remains" to a future date or time, Turkish uses kalmak combined with a time phrase in the dative case (here, -a in hafta sonuna). A literal English translation would be "His return was left to the weekend," which naturally means it was delayed or postponed until then.
Since -ü can be the accusative case marker, could dönüşü mean "the return" as a direct object?
In a different sentence, yes. But the verb kalmak (to stay/remain) is intransitive, meaning it cannot take a direct object. Because of this, dönüşü has to be the subject of the sentence, making the -ü a 3rd-person possessive suffix ("his/her return").
Why is there an -n- in hafta sonuna instead of a -y- buffer?
Hafta sonu is a noun compound (literally "week its-end"). Whenever you add a case marker (like the dative -a for "to") to a compound noun that already ends in a possessive suffix (like the -u in sonu), you must use -n- as the buffer letter. The -y- buffer is only used when adding suffixes to standard nouns that just happen to end in a vowel.
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