Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

The use of de- ‘say’ followed by a ki clause is an alternative to the type of structure
discussed in 24.2.1, where de- immediately follows the clause expressing the utterance or
thought. ki clauses occur in all the three functions of de- identified in 24.2.1:
(i) Representations of direct speech (cf. (6) and (7)):
(22) O gün Suzan bana de-miş-ti ki: “Artık dayan-a-m-ıyor-um”.
that day Suzan I(DAT) say-PF-P.COP SUB now bear-PSB-NEG-IMPF-1SG
‘That day Suzan had said to me “I can’t bear [it] any longer”.’
(23) Bana genellikle deniyordu ki: “Sen küçüksün, gelemezsin”.
‘I was usually told “You’re too young; you can’t come”.’
(ii) Generalized sayings (cf. (8)):
(24) Diyorlar [ki New York ağustosta çekilmez].
‘People say [(that) New York is unbearable in August].’
(iii) Thoughts and wishes (cf. (10)):
Turkish: A comprehensive grammar 356
(25) Ben diyorum [ki herkes kendi yiyeceklerini kendi getirsin].
‘I think [(that) everyone should bring their own food].’
There is no difference in formality between the two alternative structures with de-.
Sentences in which de- is used to express thoughts rather than utterances are less likely to
be structured with a ki clause unless, as in (25), they can be construed as containing both
speech and thought elements simultaneously.
24.3.2.2 Subject or object of a verb of perception or cognition
ki clauses can occur with all verbs of perception, and also with verbs such as inan-
‘believe’, san- ‘think’, iddia et- ‘claim’, kabul et- ‘accept’, tahmin et- ‘guess’, ‘imagine’,
which express an attitude towards the truth of a proposition.
(26) Anlaşılıyor [ki Fransızca’ya olan talep iyice azalmış].
‘It’s clear [that the demand for French has considerably declined].’
(27) Bir gün duyduk [ki adam taşınıp gitmiş].
‘One day we heard [that the man had moved away].’
In constructions of this kind the demonstrative adverbial öyle ‘like that’ (16.4.3 (iii)) is
sometimes inserted before the main verb:
(28) (Öyle) sanıyorum [ki arkadaşlarımızın çoğu ağustosta gelemeyecekler].
‘I imagine [that most of our friends won’t be able to come in August].’
This öyle is seen in the lexicalized expression öyle gel- ‘seem (to someone)’, which is
always used in combination with the dative-marked form of a personal pronoun:
(29) Bana öyle gel-iyor [ki Ömer’le ablasının araları pek iyi değil]. I(DAT) seem-
IMPF SUB
‘It seems to me [that Ömer and his sister don’t get on very well].’