There is a possessive suffix there.

Okul çanta-n-ı = your (2nd sing. person) school bag (accusative)

other persons would be:

Okul çanta-m-ı = my (1st sing. person) school bag (accusative)

Okul çanta-sı-n-ı = your (3rd sing. person) school bag (accusative)

Okul çanta-mız-ı = our (1st pl. person) school bag (accusative)

Okul çanta-nız-ı = your (2nd pl. person) school bag (accusative)

Okul çanta-ları-n-ı = their (3rd pl. person) school bag (accusative)

As for negative suffix, yes you´re right but it (-z) comes back when the personal suffix moves away from it (ie. doesn´t follow immediately the -me-z suffix).

git-me-m (older form git-me-z-im -z- disappeared over time)

but

git-me-z idi-m (-m doesn´t follow -me-z)

git-me-z mi-yim? (ditto)

etc.

Similarly

git-me-yiz (older form git-me-z-iz -z- disappeared over time)

but

git-me-z idi-k (-k doesn´t follow -me-z)

git-me-z mi-yiz? (ditto)

etc.

If sg 2^nd –n- ties çanta|n|ı to the owner (to the real world) then what ties it to okul? Isn’t it that sg 3^rd person okul çanta|sı doesn’t necessarily have to refer to any owner, the possessive suffix is there to show the connection with the first part of the compound? It seems that the real owner always overrides the grammatical marking of togetherness.

You can´t have 2 possessive suffix one after another.

Okul çanta-sı = school bag (impersonal)

At the same time, it also means:

Okul çanta-sı = his/her/its school bag (personal)

Okul çanta-m = my school bag (personal)

With genitive:

Onun okul çanta-sı = his/her/its school bag (personal)

Benim okul çanta-m = my school bag (personal)

With genitive and no possessive suffix:

Benim kız = My daughter (no possessive suffx after kız)

Onun okul çanta-sı = his/her/its school bag

Benim okul çanta-sı = my school bag (no -m possessive suffix and notice that impersonal -sı comes back)

Well, there are some exceptions when the possessive suffix is not recognised.

Ayak kab-ı = foot cover

Ayakkabı = shoes

Ayakkabı-sı = his/her shoes

Yüz baş-ı = Hundred head (head of 100 people)

Yüzbaşı  = captain (a title in the army)

Yüzbaşı-sı = his/her captain

etc.

Thanks for stopping over, MarioninTurkey and Prashantsharma. Sorry the house was a mess. Mavili, I always keep telling other learners that making mistakes is good, but to be honest I take my own faults too seriously. After seeing the corrections I am always so much ashamed of them I have to hide my face in a pillow for quarter an hour before I can think again. After that I begin to prepare a new embarassment for myself. I guess I am some kind of a maniac but a harmless one.

And thanks for the light of knowledge. tunci, you talk about hypothetical and contrafactual conditions. Could you give an example of the hypothetical type, please.

Let´s go for it again, there is nothing to lose:

1. If you send your order by fax, we will deliver the goods immediately. Siparişinizi faksiyle gönderirseniz, malları hemen teslim edeceğiz.
2. If you invite me for lunch, I will help you with your presentation. Beni öğle yemeği için davet edersen, sunuşuna yardım edeceğim.
3. If we had more employees, we would work more efficiently. Daha çok çalışanımız olsa, daha verimli bir şekilde çalışacaktık.
4. If we delivered poor quality, we would not be the leading company in our business. Kalitesi düşük mallar teslim etsek, işte önce gelen şirket olmayacaktık.
5. If you had read the paper, you would have seen the advertisement. Kağıdı okusanız, ilani görürdünüz.
6. If I had taken the bus, I would have been late. Otobüsle gitsem, geç kalırdım.
7. If your conditions are competitive, we will place an order. Șartlarınız başkalarıyla rekabet edebilirse, bir sipariş edeceğiz.
8. If I had more time, I would do a course in business English. Daha çok vaktım olsa, iş İngilizcesi kursu görecektim.
9. If we had known more about their culture, negotiating would have been easier. Kültürleri hakkında daha çok bilsek, müzakere etmek daha kolay olurdu.
10. If you customize your CV, your chances of getting a job will be better. Özgeçmişinizi özelleştirirseniz, bir iş aldığınız daha ihtimali olacak.
11. We will have to cancel our order if you don´t deliver the goods by Friday. Malları cuma kadar teslim etmezseniz, siparişimizi iptal etmek zorunda kalacağız.
12. If Alper spoke better English, he would be able to apply for a job abroad. Alper daha iyi İngilizceyi konuşsa, yurtdışında işe başvurabilecekti.
13. If you had told me about the problem, I would have helped you. Sorun hakkında anlatsan, sana yardım ederdim.
14. I would let you know if we weren´t satisfied. Tatmin olmasak, size haberi verecektim.
15. If you execute the order carelessly, they won´t place another order with you in the future. Siparişi dikkatsız icra ederseniz, gelecekte başka bir sipariş size vermeyecekler.
16. If I were you, I wouldn´t worry about the presentation. Sen olsam, sunuş sebebiyle rahatsız olmayacaktım.

Better.

I would prefer -erdim/-mezdim instead of -ecektim for "I would" as I suggested above.

Better in this case means that my faults are getting more logical. For your patience, si++, sağ olun.

Notes:

1. I had to see Ben olsam... corrected twice before I undestood that is was not a misspelling.

2. The mistake that I repeated over and over was this:

         Daha çok çalışanımız olsa, daha verimli bir şekilde çalışacaktık /çalışırdık.

It was not an accident. I still think what comes to truth conditions, there are two kinds of sentences here. In the previous example the speaker is playing with the thought of having more employees. In sentence nr 9 the conditions are different:

         Kültürleri hakkında daha çok bilsek, müzakere etmek daha kolay olurdu.

The chances for the condition to come true are over, it just didn´t happen.

The logic in these two examples is different. But of course it doesn´t mean that Turkish needs to reflect this difference in its syntax, that´s my own invention, the one that led into these mistakes.

Now I´m asking, what is the impression that a native gets from

         Daha çok çalışanımız olsa, daha verimli bir şekilde çalışacaktık ?

Is the sentence

         a) ungrammatical

         b) not equivalent to the English translation

         c) unlogical?

´Doesn´t sound good´ is an answer also, but not one that can help the learner. In my ear the worst nonsense sounds just fine.

Hi Abla,

Just a small correction to your normally excellent English.

c) unlogical? 

The opposite to ´logical´ is ´illogical´ in English, although you often see ´unlogical´ written on the internet.

PS I learn a lot from your exercises, and the corrections and explanations. 

Thank you, Henry. It´s nice to hear you follow my struggling. As for most people who learned English at school, I guess, English for me was just a means to express myself and I didn´t pay much attention to my mistakes. That was before. After I came to this site, I often wish I could express myself better in English, too. Fortunately there are plenty of chances to excercise in the net. When you have your afternoon cup of coffee sitting next to the computer you can always answer to some multiple choice excercises on English grammar. Nice and relaxing (at least compared to Turkish).