öğretmen ona bacaklarını esnetmesini söyler

[dojibear]

I saw this sentence in a "simple story" at LingQ: Öğretmen ona bacaklarını esnetmesini söyler.

I think I understand "esnetmesini". It is esnet+me+(s)i+(n)i, where (n)i is a suffix on the 2d word of a 2-noun phrase, and (n)i is the accusative suffix.

But I am not sure what the ını is in "bacaklarını". I think one ı is possessive ("her legs", not "legs").
But what is the other -(n)ı or -ın?

 

[Rallino]

I'm not sure what you mean by "a suffix on the 2nd word of a 2-noun phrase".

Etme-(s)i-(n)i and bacaklar-ı-(n)ı have exactly the same suffixes. The blue ones are the possessive: "his/her", and the red ones are the direct object marker since these words are the direct objects of the verbs: bacakları is the object of esnetmek (to stretch what? his legs), and esnetmesi is the object of söylemek (told him what? to stretch).

Öğretmen ona bacaklarını esnetmesini söyler.

Literally:

Teacher to-him legs-his-OBJ stretching-his-OBJ says.

In Turkish, you don't ask someone to do something, instead, "you tell his doing". That's why esnetme (stretching; noun form) has received a possessive suffix to convey the meaning of "his stretching", and then the accusative suffix is appended because it is what the teacher is telling him; therefore it is the direct object of the verb tell.

 

[dojibear]

Thank you for such a detailed explanation.