Turkish, suffix by suffix

No. 013 by Mahir Yavuz. Turkish builds a long word by adding suffixes to a root, one after another, and each suffix adds one piece of meaning. This page builds four words that way, and each of them ends up as a whole sentence. It opens on the root of the first, Çekoslovakya, with its English under it, Czechoslovakia. Each tap adds the next suffix, and the English is rewritten to match. After ten suffixes the word has 44 letters.

1. Çekoslovakya: Czechoslovakia
2. Çekoslovakyalı: Czechoslovakian
3. Çekoslovakyalılaş: to become Czechoslovakian
4. Çekoslovakyalılaştır: to make someone Czechoslovakian
5. Çekoslovakyalılaştırama: to be unable to make someone Czechoslovakian
6. Çekoslovakyalılaştıramadık: one that could not be made Czechoslovakian
7. Çekoslovakyalılaştıramadıklar: those that could not be made Czechoslovakian
8. Çekoslovakyalılaştıramadıklarımız: those that we could not make Czechoslovakian
9. Çekoslovakyalılaştıramadıklarımızdan: one of those that we could not make Czechoslovakian
10. Çekoslovakyalılaştıramadıklarımızdanmış: is reportedly one of those that we could not make Czechoslovakian
11. Çekoslovakyalılaştıramadıklarımızdanmışsınız: you are reportedly one of those that we could not make Czechoslovakian

The second word is about a trade, and takes five suffixes:

1. simit: simit
2. simitçi: simit seller
3. simitçilik: simit selling
4. simitçilikte: in simit selling
5. simitçilikteydi: was in simit selling
6. simitçilikteydik: we were in simit selling

The third starts from a verb and takes seven. Its first suffixes change the verb itself: to know becomes to meet, then to introduce, then to be introduced.

1. tanı: to know
2. tanış: to meet
3. tanıştır: to introduce someone
4. tanıştırıl: to be introduced
5. tanıştırılama: to be unable to be introduced
6. tanıştırılamayacak: will not be able to be introduced
7. tanıştırılamayacakmış: reportedly will not be able to be introduced
8. tanıştırılamayacakmışız: reportedly we will not be able to be introduced

The fourth is short, four suffixes:

1. gel: to come
2. gelme: to not come
3. gelmemeli: should not come
4. gelmemeliydi: should not have come
5. gelmemeliydiniz: you should not have come

Each suffix has its own colour, and the English words it adds are in the same colour. A suffix that comes back in another word keeps its colour. Turkish adds at the end of the word; English has to be rewritten from the front.

The vowels in the suffixes are not fixed. Each one follows the vowel before it, which is called vowel harmony, so the root’s last vowel sets all of them. Every word has other roots to try: places for the first, things to sell for the second (fish, milk, yoghurt, tea), verbs for the other two. The first two also take whatever the visitor types. Every suffix changes its vowels to match the new root: after İzmir, lı becomes li, laş becomes leş and dık becomes dik. Some consonants follow too: after the t of simit, ci becomes çi.