* Erkek kardeşimin biri işsiz, diğeri çalışıyor.

How is the first part of the sentence constructed? I'm having problems with the -in suffix + biri. Could it be like "one of my brothers is..., the other one is...". That's the only explanation I see, then it would be a third person possessive suffix, right?

* Birinci erkek kardeşim öğrenim görüyor.

"Öğrenim görmek" must be something like "taking lessons/following a course". Is that a common expression?

* Birader

Is this a common word for smaller brother?

Sağ olun!
Elisa

"* Erkek kardeşimin biri işsiz, diğeri çalışıyor.

How is the first part of the sentence constructed? I'm having problems with the -in suffix + biri. Could it be like "one of my brothers is..., the other one is...". That's the only explanation I see, then it would be a third person possessive suffix, right? "


the -in suffix translates to english as "-'s"
eg: that cat is kadir's/ o kedi kadir'in

if the word representing the possessor however, ends in a vowel an extra "n" is placed before the "in" to ease pronouncation
eg: that cat is ceyda's/ o kedi ceyda'nın

when used with biri it makes no difference, just remember the meaning of the word biri and it will make sense to you
i hope this makes things clearer for you
oh, and by the way.. this suffix also works with vowel harmony which im sure you are already aware of
maybe a better explanation will come along but if not, i hope i could be of help

Thanks for the explanation Miss_C, but I do think there is more to it..

wallflower's explanation is correct.

"xxx-(n)ın biri" is a fixed structure and means "one of the xxx's". Also less commonly we can say "teki" instead "biri".

Biri has two meanings. 1. somebody 2. one of the

delinin biri : some crazy person, one of those who is crazy
adamın biri : one of the guys, somebody
akıllının biri : some clever person, one of those who (thinks he) is clever

"Patron, adamın biri geldi, seni soruyor."
"Boss, somebody has come and is asking for you."

"Delinin biri bana taş attı."
"An idiot has thrown me a stone."

kalemlerin biri : one of the pens.

"Biri gitti, biri kaldı."
One done, one to go.

thanks for the great explanation erdinç