Turkish Sentence Structure

You have to re-sequence the word order of an English sentence in order to

create a correctly structured, meaningful Turkish sentence . For
example, consider the following...
The restaurant where we are going to eat is
at the corner of this street.
In Spanish and French, the shape of that sentence remains the same when it's
translated. And we've read that the same would be true if you translated it to
Russian, Greek, and even Arabic. But in Turkish, the shape is quite
different...
Yemek yiyecegimiz restoran bu sokagIn ksesindedir.
Eat-future-our-restaurant, this-street's corner-its-at-is.
Jump to the
Reverse English page for a more thorough treatment of
this phenomenon. Or, check out the Standard Rules of Word Order...

Var and Yok

But it's not just the unusual Turkish word order -- that English speakers
need to adjust for... It's also the basic method of expression.
To illustrate what we mean, let's take a look at some examples using var and
yok -- two very stand up Turkish words that every student of Turkish must
understand, if not master. The meanings for var and yok are revealed in the
examples...
For instance, here's the way in English that we express personal possession,
I have a forty-foot yacht. [yeah. right.]
In Turkish, you don't express it the same way. Instead, you say,
KIrk-ayak yatIm var,
which literally means,

My forty-foot yacht exists...

The negative expression,
I don't have a forty foot yacht [the truth is out],
would be,
KIrk-ayak yatIm yok,
which literally means,

My forty-foot yacht doesn't exist...

And in English, when we want to express the pure presence

[or absence] of a person, place, or thing -- we say, for example,
There is a scorpion on the wall!
[hey, i don't like'm either -- but they like the climate where I live. And that's what counts.]

However, in Turkish it's,

Duvarda akrep var;
which literally means,

On the wall, a scorpion exists.

[Negative example: There isn't any bread in the basket;
Sepette ekmek yok.]

Also, var/yok is used on those occasions when a strictly literal translation is

needed -- as in,
The evidence against my client does not even exist!
And the resulting Turkish sentence is an exact literal word-for-word
translation [except for the 'unusual' word order, of course],
Mvekkilimin aleyhine kanIt bile yok!
So there you have the three most basic forms of var and yok -- which are
used to say:
1) have/don't have,
2) there is/there isn't,
3) it exists/it does not exist.
And many of our visitors are
probably already familiar with these forms.
But these most basic forms are not the only forms that var and yok take.
Shall we look at some other forms -- with a few more illustrative examples?

Use in the Aorist (wide-time) verbal sense

Istanbul'da ok hotel vardIr;
There are a lot of hotels in Istanbul.
(Literally... In Istanbul, a lot of hotels exist.)
Please note that the -dir suffix is seen/heard mostly in written Turkish, or when the speaker wishes to
express more certainty in his meaning -- as in the previous and next example...

YarIn parti yoktur;

There isn't going to be a party tomorrow.
(Literally... Tomorrow, a party won't exist.)

Also,
Bugn varIm, yarIn yokum;

I am here today, gone tomorrow.

(Literally... I exist today, I don't exist tomorrow.)
And one more use for this construction... If you're in a card game and the betting gets
around to you -- you should say, VarIm, if you want to bet along with the others or
Yokum, if you want to paasssss...

Use in the Present Perfect

Dnk partide sen de varmIssIn;
You too have been (You have existed) at the party yesterday.
Bordrum gezisinde sizler yokmussunuz;
You haven't been (You haven't existed) on the Bodrum tour.

Use in the Definite Past

Ben dn toplantIda vardIm;
I was (I existed) at the meeting yesterday.
Important note:
In the above case, vardIm; I existed, could be confused with vardIm; I arrived -- one
of possible cases of ambiguity in the Turkish language...
[Click here to explore that ambiguity a little further...]

Gece yarIsI sehirde kimseler yoktu;

There wasn't (There didn't exist) anyone in the city at midnight.

Use in the conditional mood

AklInIz varsa, bu ise para yatIrmazsInIz.
If you are smart, you won't pay [good] money for this [bad] job;
(Literally... If your intelligence exists, you won't pay [good] money for this [bad] job.)

Cuma gn evde yoksanIz, Pazar gn geliriz.

If you (all) won't be at home on Friday, we'll come [to see you (all)] on
Sunday.
(On Friday, if you all won't exist at home, we'll come [to see you all] on Sunday.)

Questions with var/yok

Buralarda iyi bir lokanta var mI?
Is there a good restaurant around here?

(Around here, does a good restaurant exist?)

Evimizde yemek yok mu?

Isn't there any food at our house?
(At our house, doesn't any food exist?)

Proverbial Use
AskIn var ise (varsa) daglara ds;
If you're in love, flee to the mountains.
(If your love exists, fall [back] to the mountains.)

KadIn var ev yapar, kadIn var ev yIkar;

Women...Ya' can't live with 'em and ya' can't live without 'em.
( [Where] woman exists, the home is created; [where] woman exists, the home is
destroyed.)

EvladIn varsa bin derdin var, evladIn yoksa bir derdin var;
If you have children, you have one-thousand worries;
if you don't have children, you have one worry.
(If your children exist, one-thousand worries exist ; if your children don't exist, one
worry exists.)

This last example usage of var/yok in a proverb has the potential to throw you for a
small loop, so try to stay awake just a leetle longer...

Vara "var", yoka "yok" denir...;

To a rich man they say, "Yes, we have what you want."
To a poor man they say, "No, we're out of what you want."
(To the 'haves', "It exists." To the 'have nots', "It doesn't exist," they say...)
The point here is that sometimes, as in the above case, var and yok can be used as
nouns -- indicating a person's financial status or even his/her own personal essence, as
in...

Btn varInI yogunu o ise harcadI;

He put his whole heart and soul [and wealth] into that job.
(He expended his complete-being to that job)

Saying When and When Not...

"When I go to the market, I'll buy a newspaper."

How to handle When clauses in Turkish was one of the first things that
confused us about the language. And, frankly it can still give us fits -- when
it has a mind to. On a bad-language day, it is pretty uninspiring to hear us
stumble through a sentence with a When clause in it.
So as a language study aid, we prepared ourselves a little reference chart of
typical When clauses -- similar to our verb conjugation charts -- if you
remember how they look...starting with first person singular (When I go...),
second person singular (When you go...), and so on down the line, all the
way to When they go (the third person plural)...
Here's the chart for your Turkish language-learning arsenal -- just in case
you too suffer from 'wheningitis'...
"When I go to the market..."
For Present, Past, and Future Tense usage
(Note: In the following kind of Turkish When clause, there is no distinction between Present and Past
Tense, but there is a distinction between Present/Past and Future Tense, as indicated...)

For Present and Past For Present and Past For Future Tense
Tense usage
usage
Tense usage
Negative
Affirmative

For Future Tense

usage
Negative

Either When I go to
Either When I don't
the market or When
go to the market or
I went to the market
When I didn't go to
-the market -Either Markete
Either Markete
gittigim zaman or
gitmedigim zaman
Markete gittigimde
or
Markete
[all the above may
gitmedigimde
be
[used
used
interchangeably]
interchangeably]

When I will go to
the market -Either Markete
gidecegim zaman
or
Markete
gidecegimde
[used
interchangeably]

When I will not go to

the market -Either Markete
gitmeyecegim zaman
or
Markete
gitmeyecegimde
[used interchangeably]

Either When you go

to the market or
When you went to
the market -Either Markete
gittigin zaman or
Markete gittiginde

When you will go to

the market -Either Markete
gidecegin zaman
or
Markete
gideceginde (note

When you will not go

to the market -Either Markete
gitmeyecegin zaman
or
Markete
gitmeyeceginde (note

below table entry)

below table entry)

[used
interchangeably]

[used interchangeably]

Affirmative

(note below table

entry)

[used
interchangeably]

Either When you

don't go to the
market or When you
didn't go to the
market -Either Markete
gitmedigin zaman
or
Markete
gitmediginde (note
below table entry)

[used

interchangeably]
Either When
he/she/it doesn't go
Either When
he/she/it goes to the to the market or
When he/she/it
market or When
he/she/it went to the didn't go to the
market -market -Either Markete
Either Markete
gitmedigi zaman
gittigi zaman or
Markete gittiginde or
(note above table
Markete
entry)
gitmediginde (note
[used
above table entry)
interchangeably]
[used
interchangeably]

When he/she/it will

go to the market -Either Markete
gidecegi zaman or
Markete
gideceginde (note
above table entry)

[used
interchangeably]

When he/she/it will

not go to the market -Either Markete
gitmeyecegi zaman
or
Markete
gitmeyeceginde (note
above table entry)

[used interchangeably]

Either When we go
to the market or
When we went to
the market -Either Markete
gittigimiz zaman
or
Markete
gittigimizde
[used
interchangeably]

Either When we
don't go to the
market or When we
didn't go to the
market -Either Markete
gitmedigimiz
zaman or
Markete
gitmedigimizde
[used
interchangeably]

When we will go to
When we will not go
the market -to the market -Either Markete
Either Markete
gidecegimiz zaman
gitmeyecegimiz
or
zaman or
Markete
Markete
gidecegimizde
gitmeyecegimizde
[used
[used interchangeably]
interchangeably]

Either When you

[plural] go to the
market or When you
went to the market
-Either Markete
gittiginiz zaman or
Markete
gittiginizde
[used
interchangeably]

Either When you

[plural] don't go to
the market or When
you didn't go to the
market -Either Markete
gitmediginiz
zaman or
Markete
gitmediginizde
[used
interchangeably]

When you [plural]

will go to the
market -Either Markete
gideceginiz zaman
or
Markete
gideceginizde
[used
interchangeably]

When you [plural]

will not go to the
market -Either Markete
gitmeyeceginiz
zaman or
Markete
gitmeyeceginizde
[used interchangeably]

Either When they

Either When they go don't go to the
to the market or
market or When
When they went to they didn't go to the
the market -market -Either Markete
Either Markete
gittikleri zaman or gitmedikleri
Markete
zaman or
gittiklerinde
Markete
[used
gitmediklerinde
interchangeably]
[used
interchangeably]

When they will go

to the market -Either Markete
gidecekleri zaman
or
Markete
gideceklerinde
[used
interchangeably]

When they will not go

to the market -Either Markete
gitmeyecekleri
zaman or
Markete
gitmeyeceklerinde
[used interchangeably]

So, now you can print out this chart and all your problems using and
understanding When clauses will be over, right?
You didn't think you were going to get away that easily, now did you?

Firstly, the chart above only addresses Turkish verbs with infinitives
ending in 'mek' -- like gitmek; go and gelmek; come.
(Did you remember that there are two Turkish verb types -- one with it's infinitive
ending in 'mek' and the other ending in 'mak'?)

Well, for verbs ending in 'mak' -- like satmak; sell and kosmak; run, you
need a separate When clause chart. It is very similar to the one above, with
just a few spelling modifications to reflect the appropriate vowel harmony.
"When I run to the market..."
For Present, Past, and Future Tense usage
(Note: In the following kind of Turkish When clause, there is no distinction between Present and Past
Tense, but there is a distinction between Present/Past and Future Tense, as indicated...)

For Present and

Past Tense usage

Affirmative
Either When I run
to the market or
When I ran to the
market -Either Markete
kostugum zaman
or
Markete
kostugumda
[all the above may
be
used
interchangeably]

For Present and Past For Future Tense

Tense usage
usage
Negative
Affirmative

For Future Tense usage

Negative

Either When I don't

run to the market or When I will run to
When I didn't run to the market -the market -Either Markete
Either Markete
kosacagIm zaman
kosmadIgIm zaman or
or
Markete
Markete
kosacagImda
kosmadIgImda
[used
[used
interchangeably]
interchangeably]

When I will not run to

the market -Either Markete
kosmayacagIm zaman
or
Markete
kosmayacagImda
[used interchangeably]

Either When you

Either When you
don't run to the
run to the market or
market or When you
When you ran to
didn't run to the
the market -market -Either Markete
Either Markete
kostugun zaman
kosmadIgIn zaman
or
or
Markete
Markete
kostugunda (note
kosmadIgInda (note
below table entry)
[used
interchangeably]

below table entry)

[used
interchangeably]

When you will run

to the market -Either Markete
kosacagIn zaman
or
Markete
kosacagInda (note
below table entry)

[used
interchangeably]

When you will not run

to the market -Either Markete
kosmayacagIn zaman
or
Markete
kosmayacagInda (note
below table entry)

[used interchangeably]

Either When
Either When
When he/she/it will When he/she/it will not
he/she/it runs to the he/she/it doesn't run run to the market -- run to the market -market or When
to the market or
Either Markete
he/she/it ran to the When he/she/it
Either Markete
kosmayacagI zaman

market -Either Markete

kostugu zaman or
Markete
kostugunda (note
above table entry)

[used
interchangeably]

didn't run to the

market -Either Markete
kosmadIgI zaman
or
Markete
kosmadIgInda (note
above table entry)

[used
interchangeably]

kosacagI zaman or
or
Markete
Markete
kosacagInda (note kosmayacagInda (note
above table entry)

above table entry)

[used
interchangeably]

[used interchangeably]

Either When we
Either When we
don't run to the
run to the market or
market or When we
When we ran to the
didn't run to the
market -market -Either Markete
Either Markete
kostugumuz
kosmadIgImIz
zaman or
zaman or
Markete
Markete
kostugumuzda
kosmadIgImIzda
[used
[used
interchangeably]
interchangeably]

When we will run

to the market -Either Markete
kosacagImIz
zaman or
Markete
kosacagImIzda
[used
interchangeably]

Either When you

Either When you
[plural] run to the [plural] don't run to
market or When
the market or When
you ran to the
you didn't run to the
market -market -Either Markete
Either Markete
kostugunuz zaman kosmadIgInIz
or
zaman or
Markete
Markete
kostugunuzda
kosmadIgInIzda
[used
[used
interchangeably] interchangeably]

When you [plural]

When you [plural] will
will run to the
not run to the market -market -Either Markete
Either Markete
kosacagInIz zaman
kosmayacagInIz
or
zaman or
Markete
Markete
kosacagInIzda
kosmayacagInIzda
[used
[used interchangeably]
interchangeably]

Either When they

Either When they
don't run to the
run to the market or
market or When
When they ran to
they didn't run to
the market -the market -Either Markete
Either Markete
kostuklarI zaman
kosmadIklarI
or
zaman or
Markete
Markete
kostuklarInda
kosmadIklarInda
[used
[used
interchangeably]
interchangeably]

When they will run

to the market -Either Markete
kosacaklarI
zaman or
Markete
kosacaklarInda
[used
interchangeably]

When we will not run

to the market -Either Markete
kosmayacagImIz
zaman or
Markete
kosmayacagImIzda
[used interchangeably]

When they will not run

to the market -Either Markete
kosmayacaklarI
zaman or
Markete
kosmayacaklarInda
[used interchangeably]

Secondly, there are two more ways you can make a Turkish When clause.
You can do it by adding either the 'ince' or the 'ken' suffixes to Turkish
word stems...

You just need to be a little careful, that's all.

Here's how.

Other Ways of Saying When...

These are pretty straight forward actually (if not without controversy), but there are
a couple of points you need to consider -- before you put either of these
methods into practice.
Point, the first...
When you add 'ince' to the verb stem [sorry, it only works with verbs] you
convey the meaning 'on doing' or 'when doing' which is not exactly the same
as 'when'.
But it's close. And since all the Turks we know employ it quite matter-offactly to construct When clauses, then we think it's good enough for us
Practical Turkish speakers...
A significant feature of the 'ince' suffix, is that it takes its 'tense' from the closest main verb in the
sentence. You'll see what we mean in the following examples.
And another feature of 'ince'-- the worst one, actually -- is that it obeys the Rule of Vowel
Harmony. So, you may need to use a spelling varient of it, according to the last vowel in the word it's
attached to... Which means that besides the suffix 'ince', you also have to contend with its spelling
varients 'nce', 'Inca', and 'unca' when you want to build a When clause.
(By contrast, the suffix 'ken', duscussed in the second point below,
is free from this requirement.)

Examples:
ocuklarI okula gidince, Hande HanIm kahvaltIsInI yapar.
When her children have gone to school, Ms. Hande has her breakfast.

Geri dnnce ltfen beni arasIn;

When he returns, please ask him to call me [on the phone].

Hava sIcak olunca, denizde yzmelisiniz;

When the weather gets hot, you must swim in the sea.

HavasIna alIsInca, LondrayI seveceksin;

When you'll get used to the weather, you will love London.

SorunlarImIz byynce,
iliskimizi bitirmek zorunda kaldIk;
When our problems grew, we had to end the [our] affair.
(When our problems grew, we remained forced to end our affair.)

the second point below

When you add 'ken' ('yken' after vowels') as a suffix to a verb stem or to a
noun, it conveys the meaning of, 'while (doing)'.
Again, that's not the same as 'when', but since our Turkish friends use it to
construct When Clauses, then why can't we...?
Nonetheless, we have a feeling that the Turkish language police are liable to track us down for this kind
of controversial usage -- and thrash us to within a syllable of our interrogatives...
But how bad can that be?
BTW, as mentioned in Point, the first, notice that the 'ken' suffix does not obey the Rule of Vowel
Harmony. So, mercifully, its spelling is always 'ken' regardless of the word it's attached to.
Now, iddin tha' nice...

Examples in the Past Tense:

Ben kosarken kar yagmaya basladI;
When (while) I was [out] jogging, it started to snow.
Sen dans ederken, sarhostum;
When (while) you were [off] dancing, I got drunk.
O yemegi yerken, sinemaya gittiler;
When (while) he ate lunch, they ran to the movies.
Biz Izmirdeyken, televizyon seyretti;
When (while) we were in Izmir, she watched television.
Siz Ankaradayken, John markete gitti;
When (while) you all were in Ankara, John went to the market.
Onlar bardayken, uyudum;
When (while) they were at the bar, I slept.
Examples of 'ken' with other verb tenses

Sen konusurken, glyorum;

When (while) you are talking, I am laughing.
Sen istanbuldayken, Hillary kye gidecek;
When (while) you are in Istanbul, Hillary will go to the village.