Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Turkish: A comprehensive grammar 370
24.4.3.3 Other functions of -DIK/-(y)AcAK clauses
(i) Clauses with -DIK (not -(y)AcAK) also occur as the subject of sentences which
comment on the frequency of a certain event or situation. The main verb here is usually
ol- ‘occur’, görül- ‘be seen’, or duyul- ‘be heard’.
(101) O günlerde [akşamları birlikte çay içtiğimiz] çok olurdu.
‘In those days it was common [for us to have tea together in the evenings].’
(102) [Gökhan’ın içkiyi fazla kaçırdığı] hiç görülmemişti.
‘Gökhan had never been known [to have had too much to drink].’
Colloquially, this type of utterance can also be cast in the form of an interrogative or
negative existential sentence:
(103) [Ahmet-i gör-düğ-ün] var mı bu günlerde?
Ahmet-ACC see-VN-2SG.POSS existent INT recently
‘Have you seen anything of Ahmet recently?’
(ii) Although -DIK/-(y)AcAK clauses cannot, in general, be used to express evaluations or
descriptions of events (cf. 24.4.2.2), the specific combination of -DIK with iyi ol- ‘be
good’ does occur:
(104) [Bunu konuşmamız/konuştuğumuz] iyi oldu.
‘It’s good [that we have talked about this].’
(iii) Another use of genitive-marked -DIK clauses is in genitive-possessive constructions
of which the head is a unit of time:
(105) [Adana-ya gel-diğ-im]-in ikinci gün-ü Turhan’la görüştük.
Adana-DAT arrive-VN-1SG.POSS-GEN second day-3SG.POSS
‘Turhan and I met on the second day after [my arrival in Adana].’
24.4.4 CLAUSES FORMED WITH -(y)Iş
While productive as a derivational suffix forming abstract or semi-abstract nouns
(7.2.1.1), as a subordinator -(y)Iş is more restricted in its functions than any of the other
suffixes discussed in this chapter. It is almost always used to refer to an action or state
predicated of a particular subject (indicated, as usual, by the affixation of a possessive
suffix). It therefore cannot be used in any of the functions of -mAK. It also cannot be used
in sentences that bear upon the factual status of a proposition, nor in those that express a
volitional stance (desire, command, request, permission, etc.) towards a situation. It is
therefore excluded from most of the contexts in which -DIK/-(y)AcAK or -mA are used.
The verbal noun formed with -(y)Iş has two functions that are not shared by any of the
other forms discussed in this chapter. It can express (i) the manner in which an action is
performed, or (ii) a single instance of an event or action. In both of these functions -(y)Iş
forms can have a status that is more noun-like than the other verbal nouns. This is
illustrated in (106), where sokuluş ‘manner of snuggling up’, while remaining sufficiently