Önlemek: prevent an unwanted event

The idea

The event is the object of önlemek: karışıklığı önlemek means to prevent confusion. For a whole event, use a nominalized clause: suyun dökülmesini önlemek, to prevent the water from spilling. Here suyun names what would spill, and dökülmesini is the object. The stem önle- gives önlüyor: its final e narrows to ü, influenced by the preceding ö. Compare önledi, önler and önleyeceğiz; the future has linking y, and k becomes ğ before the vowel of the person ending.

Examples

• Bu kapak suyun dökülmesini önlüyor.This lid prevents the water from spilling.
• Kısa açıklama yanlış anlaşılmayı önledi.The brief explanation prevented a misunderstanding.
• Yeni takvim toplantıların çakışmasını önleyecek.The new schedule will prevent the meetings from overlapping.
• Açık etiketler karışıklığı önler.Clear labels prevent confusion.
• Bu uyarı hatanın tekrarlanmasını önlemiyor.This warning does not prevent the mistake from recurring.
• Dosyaların silinmesini nasıl önleyebiliriz?How can we prevent the files from being deleted?
• Gecikmeyi önlemek için malzemeleri şimdiden hazırlıyoruz.We are preparing the materials now to prevent a delay.

Watch out

To keep water from spilling, say suyun dökülmesini önlemek, with an affirmative event. Adding a negative in dökülmemesini changes the event to “not spilling” and reverses the intended meaning. If a problem has already arisen, sorunu çözmek means to solve it; sorunu önlemek means to prevent it.

Try it yourself

1. Complete with the third-person singular present continuous of önlemek: this lid prevents the water from spilling.

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   önlüyor

   önlüyor: the subject is this lid, so no first-person ending is needed. The preceding rounded ö accounts for ü when the final stem vowel narrows; the form is not önliyor.

2. Complete in the future: With the new schedule, we will prevent the meetings from overlapping.

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   önleyeceğiz

   önleyeceğiz: biz requires the “we” ending. Linking y follows the vowel-final stem, and the k of -ecek softens before -iz, giving the future form for our planned action.

3. Complete: This lid prevents paint from spilling onto the floor. Make the spilling event the object.

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   dökülmesini

   dökülmesini: the paint is what might spill, so the event takes the third-person possessive -si. Accusative -i, joined by n, makes that event the object. The event itself stays affirmative because spilling is what the lid prevents.

4. Complete in the negative present continuous: This explanation does not prevent confusion.

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   önlemiyor

   önlemiyor: the sentence says the explanation fails to prevent confusion. Keep the stem önle- and add the negative present form; the negative suffix supplies the unrounded i, unlike affirmative önlüyor.

Use it today

Describe three unwanted events in a workshop or shared office. Write one sentence about what prevented an event, one about what will prevent it, and one about a measure that does not work. Make at least one event a nominalized object.