Breakdown of Herkes onu tebrik etmek istiyor.
o
that / he / she / it
istemek
to want / to require / to call for
herkes
everyone
tebrik etmek
to congratulate
Questions & Answers about Herkes onu tebrik etmek istiyor.
Why is tebrik etmek written as two separate words?
In Turkish, auxiliary verb compounds with etmek or olmak merge into a single word only if the root noun undergoes a sound change (like losing a vowel in sabır -> sabretmek, or doubling a consonant in his -> hissetmek). Because the Arabic loanword tebrik (congratulation) doesn't change its spelling when combined with etmek, they remain separate words.
Why is onu used instead of ona?
In English, you congratulate someone, which makes them the direct object. Turkish works the same way: tebrik etmek takes a definite direct object, which requires the accusative case (onu), not the dative case (ona).
Herkes means everyone, referring to multiple people. Why is the verb istiyor in the singular form?
Even though herkes refers to a group of people, it is grammatically a singular pronoun in Turkish, exactly like "everyone" or "everybody" in English. Therefore, it always takes a singular verb. (Also, note the spelling: it always ends in s, never z).
Why does the verb root iste- change to isti- in istiyor?
This is a quick refresher on vowel narrowing. When a verb root ends in a wide, unrounded vowel (a or e) and you add the continuous suffix -yor, that final vowel narrows to fit vowel harmony (ı, i, u, or ü). Therefore, iste- becomes isti- before -yor.
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