When I saw your link, Henry, I remembered there must be something about this in my handbag. I found it.

                            Ne aramıştınız?

was written next to a search box on a web site. According to the replies in your link it seems that it is a polite question, something like ´What was it that you were looking for?´ I don´t know if it is a proper English sentence but in many languages past tense forms are used for expressing politeness or a respecting distance between the speaker and the listener.

But I feel the use of -miş- in tristerequerdos´s examples has another function which I at least can´t understand no more than the example

                             Bu sabah erken kalkmıştım

of your link. The combination of sg 1st person and -miş- past seems to be the problem.

Btw, is the hearsay meaning there if -miş- is combined with -di-? I have learned even the -miş- participle has lost this special meaning.

It seems that learning Turkish grammar was no big thing for you.

The thought of the first part being an adjective attribute in this type of words very much makes sense to me but I don´t have enough example material in my yabancı head to give reasons to it.

An example that is often presented to learners, a kind of minimum pair is

                  kadın doktor ´female doctor´

                  kadın doktoru ´gynaecologist´.

Maybe in sufler´s example the abstract, metaphorical use of anahtar makes it impossible for the compound relation to be realized. That´s why it is understood as an adjective, synonyme to önemli or something. Maybe maybe.

I don´t know but I think it has to do with the border between nouns and adjectives. The border that doesn´t really exist. Sometimes they just use nouns like they were adjectives and vice versa. A group of similar compounds are those where the first part defines the gender of the referent:

                   erkek çocuk

                   kadın doktor

Thanks for your help again, gokuyum.

There is a typical mistake I make with Turkish conditional clauses always. I see possible conditions where natives use the hypothetical pattern. But not so much any more. I have learned a more pessimistic approach to if clauses and it seems to work.

Are you sure, gokuyum, the meaning of necessity is present here? Is -meli- necessitative impossible in this position?

The basic meaning of causative is that the subject causes someone else to do something. In Turkish, what kind of causing does it mean? I am thinking about cases like

- forcing (I will make him crawl on his bended knees and beg for mercy.)

- convincing (The nurse got the child to swallow the medicine.)

Does simple causative do the job if you translate the sentences into Turkish or does the meaning have to be specified in another way?

My Try:

İstanbul´da mısın yoksa?

´I wonder if you are in Istanbul.´

Conditional clauses once again. Please correct me.

1. If it rains, the boys won´t play football. Yağmur yağarsa erkek çocuklar futbol oynamayacak.

2. We wouldn’t look that happy if we didn’t win the match. Maçı kazanmazsak o kadar mutlu görünmeyiz.

3. If it had rained yesterday I wouldn’t have had to water the plants. Dün yağmur yağsaydı bitkileri sulamak zorunda kalmazdım.

4. My daughter would have told me if she had done it. Kızım onu yapsaydı bana anlatırdı.

5. She wouldn´t have yawned the whole day if she hadn´t stayed up late last night. Dün gece geç saatlere kadar uyanık kalmasaydı bütün gün esnemezdi.

6. If you wait a minute, I´ll come with you. Bir dakika beklersen seninle geleceğim.

7. If we arrived at 10, we would miss Tyler´s presentation. Saat onda ulaşırsak Tyler’in sunuşunu kaçırırız.

8. We would have helped John if we´d known about his problems. Sorunları hakkında bilseydik John’a yardım ederdik.

9. If they had used new batteries, their camera would have worked correctly. Yeni piller kullansaydılar kameraları doğru şekilde çalışırdı.

10. If I went anywhere, it would be New Zealand. Herhangi bir yere gelsem, bu yer Yeni Zelanda olurdu.

11. If you like, you can stay for two days. İstersen iki gün kalabilirsin.

12. If I had seen the film in the cinema, I wouldn´t have watched it on TV again. Film sinemada görseydim onu tekrar televizyonda seyretmezdim.

13. If the parents bought the cat, their children would be very happy. Ana baba kediyi satın alırsa çocukları çok mutlu olur.

14. Metal expands if you heat it. Metal ısıtıldığında genleşir.

15. He should have received my e-mail if he´d been online yesterday evening. Dün gece çevrimiçi olsaydı e-mailimi teslim almalıydı.

16. They´d have been able to return the bottle if they hadn´t torn off the labels. Etiketleri koparsaydılar şişeyi geri verebilirdiler.

17. If she tidies up her room, she must find the receipt. Odasını toplarsa reçeteyi bulmalı.

18, What would you do if you had a million dollars. Bir milyon doların olsa ne yapardın?

19. Where would you live if you were younger. Daha genç olsan nerede yaşardın?

20. If you will wait for a little moment, I´ll tell the doctor you are here. Biraz beklersiniz doktora burada olduğunuzu söyleyeceğim.

http://sehr-istanbul.blogspot.com/2011/07/fatihin-ayasofyada-kldrdg-ilk-namazda.html

http://gizlenentarihimiz.blogspot.com/2009/06/fatih-sultan-mehmedin-ayasofya.html

http://www.haberturk.com/kultur-sanat/haber/739491-ayasofyanin-sirri-ne-galeri

Ayasofya’nın sırrı ne?

(One of Allah´s names ya Fattah ´Opener´ is forged in the knockers of Hafia Sofia doors.)

Hagia Sofia (from the Greek words meaning ‘Holy Wisdom’ ) is one of the greatest examples of Byzantine Architecture. It was initiated in 532 and it served as an Orthodox basilika until the day Ottomans conquered Istanbul. Mehmed the Conqueror converted the chuch into a mosque and serious consequences were predicted for the one who ever was going to change this order.

Bu sebeple, bu vakfiyeyi kim değiştirirse, Allah’ın, Peygamber’in, meleklerin, bütün yöneticilerin ve dahi bütün Müslümanların ebediyen laneti onun ve onların üzerine olsun, azapları hafiflemesin onların, haşr gününde yüzlerine bakılmasın. For this reason, if someone changes this charter, let the curse of Allah, the Prophet, angels, all leaders and all Muslims be upon him and them for ever more, let their punishment not get easier, let their faces not be looked at on Doomsday. 

As a mosque needs minarets they were built during the reign of Bayezid II and Selim II the Grim. The building has suffered from earthquakes many times during its history: even the great dome has collapsed once.

There is a legend told about the first Friday prayer in Hagia Sofia on June 1^st 1453. Mehmed II personally led the prayer. He interrupted the prayer thrice after reciting Allahu Akbar. Later he told he wanted to see Kaaba in front of him while praying but didn’t succeed in the beginning. Meanwhile, a learned man told how he saw a spiritual creature change the direction of Hagia Sofia so that the prayers were facing qiblah. The fingerprints of this man can still be seen in the wall.

In 1934 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ordered Hagia Sofia to be changed into a museum.

şöyle, my friend, şöyle...