Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Turkish: A comprehensive grammar 442
functions according to the type of constituent it is attached to. It can be attached either to
a non-focused constituent or to a focused one.
(a) dA attached to a non-focused (i.e. unstressed) constituent A non-focused
constituent to which dA is attached is usually the first constituent in a sentence. In
this case dA has a primarily continuative function, indicating that the events
described in successive sentences are connected, but it may also signal a change
in topic (23.3.3.1 (i), as in the case of Semra’ya in (21)). In this usage dA
corresponds to ‘and’:
(21) Sana bugün iki mektup geldi. Semra’ya da bir paKET.
Two letters arrived for you today. And a package for Semra.’
(22) Balığı kızarttım. Biraz sonra da yiyeCEğim.
‘I have fried the fish and will eat it in a few minutes.’
(b) dA attached to a focused (i.e.stressed) constituent
This can be any constituent in the sentence, including the predicate.
In this function dA corresponds to ‘too’, ‘also’:
(23) Kışın ortasında Bodrum’a gitti, deniZE de girdi.
‘S/he went to Bodrum in the middle of winter, and swam in the sea, too.’
(24) Hep İzlanda’ya gitmek isterdi, sonunda gitTİ de.
‘S/he always wanted to go to Iceland, and in the end s/he went, too.’
dA can sometimes attach to the stressed constituent within a phrase:
(25) Bebek ne tatlı. ÇOK da uslu maşallah.
‘The baby is so sweet. And very well-behaved, too!’
See 28.3.2 for enumerating dA…dA, 28.3.4.5 (i) for the adversative function of dA, 27.4.2
for combinations of dA with the conditional markers -sA and -(y)sA, and 26.1.7 for dA as
a subordinator.
(iv) bile ‘even’, ‘already’ attaches to any constituent that can receive stress:
(26) Nuri, sokaĜA bile çıkmak istemiyor.
‘Nuri doesn’t even want to go out [of the house].’
When bile attaches to a predicate in a finite clause, it can mean ‘even’, but more often
corresponds to ‘already’:
(27) Bazen o pis köpeğı okŞUyor bile.
‘Sometimes s/he even strokes that filthy dog.’
(28) O filmi görDÜM bile.
‘I have already seen that film.’
(v) ve de is an emphatic form of ve, mostly in its function as a sentence co-ordinator, and
is used mainly to highlight the significance of the comment that follows:
(29) 80 yaşında Almanca öğrenmeye başladı ve de bundan çok memnun.
‘S/he has started learning German at 80, and what’s more s/he’s very happy about
it.’