Breakdown of Bu ses sinirlerimi bozuyor.
bu
this
ses
voice / sound
bozmak
to spoil / to ruin (transitive)
sinir
nerve; irritation
Questions & Answers about Bu ses sinirlerimi bozuyor.
I know bozmak means "to break" or "to ruin". How does it mean "getting on my nerves" here?
In Turkish, the idiom sinir bozmak literally translates to "to ruin the nerves" or "to spoil the nerves". It is the standard and most natural way to express that something is deeply annoying, frustrating, or getting on your nerves.
Can you break down the stack of suffixes on the word sinirlerimi?
It is built from the root noun sinir (nerve). First, we add the plural suffix -ler to get sinirler (nerves). Next comes the first-person possessive -im to make it sinirlerim (my nerves). Finally, because "my nerves" is the specific, definite direct object being acted upon by the verb bozuyor, we must add the accusative case marker -i at the very end.
Why isn't there any case marker on Bu ses if it is the source of the annoyance?
Bu ses (This sound) is the subject of the sentence. It is the active agent that is doing the "ruining" of your nerves. In Turkish, the subject of a sentence always stays in the nominative (bare) case, which is why it takes no suffixes here.
Does ses mean "sound" or "voice" in this context?
The word ses can mean either "sound" or "voice" depending entirely on the context. In this sentence, bu ses usually refers to an annoying environmental noise (this sound), but if someone were speaking to you in a highly irritating way, it could just as easily mean "this voice".
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