CONDITIONAL

SENTENCES
IN ENGLISH
AND TURKISH
YÜKSEL GÖKNEL
[email protected]

2015

WWW.YUKSELGOKNEL.COM
 CONDITIONAL SENTENCES IN ENGLISH AND TURKISH

Note: The aim of this colored revised version of this article is not to make the
pages look colorful, but to show the functional parts of the words in different
colors. The following colored lines and words indicate them. For instance:

1. Subject pronouns and subject allomorphs that are attached to

main verbs are blue.
2. Verb roots, verb stems and verb frames, and the derivational
allomorphs that change noun roots or stems, and adjective roots
into verbs are red.
3. Objects, nouns, coordinating conjunctions and the last
suffixes that turn words into nouns are black.
4. Adverbs, adverbials, adverbial phrases, prepositions or
postpositions, subordinating conjunctions, adverb clauses, and
the inflectional allomorphs that change nouns into adverbs are
green.
5. Subject complements are underlined brown.
6. Adjectives and noun modifiers, and the purple allomorphs
attached to nouns and verbs that change them into adjectives, and
the “a”, “an”, “the” ariticles are purple.
In short, when you see a black allomorph attached to the end of a
Turkish or an English word, that word together with the black
allomorph is a noun. When you see a green allomorph attached to
a word, this word together with the green allomorph is an adverb,
and when you see a purple allomorph attached to a word, this word
together with the purple allomorph is an adjective or a noun
modifier.
In Turkish, the last allomorphs attached to the last parts of the
words are the allomorphs that identify whether a word is a verb,
an adjectıve, an adverb, a preposition, or a noun.

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 CONDITIONAL SENTENCES IN ENGLISH AND TURKISH

CONDITIONAL SENTENCES

There are two parts in a conditional sentence: “if clause” and the “main
clause”. In an “if clause”, the supposition is either real or unreal. These
real and unreal suppositions in Turkish are also classified according to their
times:

1 (a): present real supposition. 1(b): present unreal supposition. 2 (a):

past real supposition. 2 (b): past unreal supposition.

1 (a): If the supposition is real at present, “verb-[ir, ır, ür, ur, er, ar]-
[se, sa]-[subj allomorph]” verb composition is used in the condition part,
and The Simple Present (Geniş Zaman) is used in the result part of a
conditional sentence.

1 (b): If the supposition is unreal at present, “verb-♫[se,sa]-[subj

allomorph]” verb structure is used in the condition part, and “used to”
(Geniş Zaman’ın Hikâyesi) is used in the result part of a conditional
sentence.

2 (a): If the supposition is real in the past, “verb-[di/y/, dı/y/, dü/y/,

du/y/, ti/y/, tı/y/, tü/y/, tu/y/]-[se, sa]-[subj allomorph]” is used in the
condition part, and “verb-[miş, mış, müş, muş]-[tir, tır, tür, tur]” verb
composition is used in the result part of a conditional sentence.

2 (b): If the supposition is unreal in the past, “verb-[se/y/, sa/y/]-[di, dı]-[subj

allomorph]” verb structure is used in the condition part, and “used to” (Şimdiki
Zamanın Hikâyesi) is used in the result part of a conditional sentence.

1 (a): PRESENT REAL SUPPOSITION

In the “if” parts, and in the result parts of conditional sentences in Turkish,
there may be two personal concepts. One of them is in the beginning as a
pronoun, and the other one in the end as a subject allomorph such as:
“(Sen) çalış-ır-sa-an”, and “(sen) başar-ır-sın”

In the example sentences, the pronouns are generally omitted because the
subject allomorphs at the ends of both the condition parts and the main
clause parts are enough to express these pronouns. The subject
allomorphs attached to the condition parts are written in blue, the subject
allomorphs attached to the main verbs are also written in blue.

(Sen) çalış-ır-sa-an / (sen) başar-ır-sın.

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 CONDITIONAL SENTENCES IN ENGLISH AND TURKISH

This conditional sentence is like the English sentence “If you work, you
succeed”. In the first part, “sen” means “you”, the “[sa] allomorph means
“if”. The [ir] allomorph is The Simple Present allomorph, and the [an]
allomorph also means “sen”. In the result part of this conditional sentence,
as in the condition part, there are two “you” concepts: “you” and [sın], which
mean the same thing. Therefore, the personal pronouns in the beginnings
of the two parts of a conditional sentence may be ignored unless they are
intentionally stressed. All the identical successive vowels combine and
verbalize as single vowels in all of the sentences below.

Çalış-ır-sa-an başar-ır-sın.
(ça*lı*şır*san / ba*şa*rır*sın ↷ ) If you work, you succeed.

The same rule is applied to all conditional sentences in Turkish. Clauses

like English clauses are used only in conditional sentences in Turkish.

Consider the following:

Ben çalış-ır-sa-am ben başar-ır-ım. (ça*lı*şır*sam / ba*şa*rı*rım ↷)

Sen çalış-ır-sa-an sen başar-ır-sın. (ça*lı*şır*san / ba*şa*rır*sın ↷)
O çalış-ır-sa o başar-ır. (ça*lı*şır*sa / ba*şa*rır ↷)
Ahmet çalış-ır-sa Ahmet başar-ır. (ah*met / ça*lı*şır*sa / ba*şa*rır ↷)
Biz çalış-ır-sa-ak biz başar-ır-ız. (ça*lı*şır*sak / ba*şa*rı*rız ↷)
Siz çalış-ır-sa-anız siz başar-ır-sınız. (ça*lı*şır*sa*nız / ba*şa*rır*sı*nız ↷)
Onlar çalış-ır-lar-sa onlar başar-ır-lar. (ça*lı*şır*lar*sa / ba*şa*rır*lar ↷)

However, the English equivalents of the conditional sentences above are as

follows:

I will succeed if I work.

You will succeed if you work.
He will succeed if he works, etc.

Follow the examplas:

Yağmur yağ-ar-sa ev-de otur-ur-uz.

adverb clause of cond adverbial verb subj
predicate
(yağ*mur / ya*ğar*sa ~ / ev*de / o*tu*ru*ruz ↷)
If it rains, we will stay at home. We will stay at home if it rains.

Çalış-ır-sa-an sınav-ı geç-er-sin.

(ça*lı*şır*san ~ / sı*na*vı / ge*çer*sin ↷)
If you study, you will pass the exam.

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 CONDITIONAL SENTENCES IN ENGLISH AND TURKISH

Çok çalış-ır-sa-an başar-abil-ir-sin.

(çok / ça*lı*şır*san ~ / ba*şa*ra*bi*lir*sin ↷)
If you work hard, you can succeed.

Onu düşür-ür-se-en kırıl-ır. (“Kırıl-ır” means “o kırılır”)

(o*nu / dü*şü*rür*sen ~ / kı*rı*lır ↷)
If you drop it, it will break.

Onu tekrar yap-ar-sa-an tokat-ı yer-sin.

(o*nu / tek*rar / ya*par*san ~ / to*ka*dı / yer*sin ↷)
If you do that again, I will slap you.

Bulaşık-lar-ı yıka-ar-sa-an sana ev ödev-i/n/-de yardım et-er-im.

(bu*la*şık*la*rı / yı*kar*san ~/ sa*na / ev / ö*de*vin*de / yar*dım / e*de*rim↷)
If you wash the dishes, I will help you with your homework.

Dikkat-li sür-er-se-en kaza yap-maz-sın.

(dik*kat*li / sü*rer*sen~ / ka*za: / yap*maz*sın ↷)
If you drive carefully, you won’t have an accident.

Hazır-sa-an dışarı-/y/a çık-abil-ir-iz.

(ha*zır*san~ / dı*şa*rı / çı*ka*bi*li*riz ↷)
We can go out if you are ready.

Seyret-me-iyor-sa-an televizyon-u kapat.

(sey*ret*mi*yor*san ~/ te*le*viz*yo*nu / ka*pat ↷)
Turn it off if you are not watching television.

Gel-ir-ler-se memnun ol-ur-uz.

(ge*lir*ler*se ~/ mem*nun / o*lu*ruz ↷)
We will be happy if they come.
(In the third person plural [se] and [ler] allomorphs change places.)

Bu düğme-/y/e bas-ar-sa-an asansör aşağı-/y/a gel-ir.

(bu / düğ*me*ye / ba*sar*san ~ / a*san*sör / a*şa*ğı / ge*lir ↷)
If you press this button, the elevator will come down.

Öğretmen bana bak-ar-sa onun bana bir soru sor-acak-ı-/n/ı tahmin et-er-im.
(öğ*ret*men / ba*na / ba*kar*sa~ / o*nun / ba*na / bir / so*ru / so*ra*ca*-
ğı*nı / tah*min / e*de*rim ↷)
If the teacher looks at me, I can guess that he is going to ask me a
question.

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 CONDITIONAL SENTENCES IN ENGLISH AND TURKISH

Sokak-lar ıslak-sa dün gece yağmur yağ-mış-tır.

(so*kak*lar / ıs*lak*sa ~/ dün / ge*ce / yağ*mur / yağ*mış*tır ↷)
If the streets are wet, it must have rained last night.
(I’m sure it rained last night because the streets are wet.)

(Sen) (kendin-i) yorgun hisset-iyor-sa-an, dün gece geç yat-mış-sın-dır.

(yor*gun / his*se*di*yor*san~ / dün / ge*ce / geç / yat*mış*sın*dır ↷)
If you feel tired, you must have gone to bed late last night.
(I am sure you went to bed late, that is why you are tired now.)

Biraz İngilizce bil-iyor-sa-an, bu cümle-ler-i anla-mış-sın-dır.

(bi*raz / in*gi*liz*ce / bi*li*yor*san ~/ bu / cüm*le*le*ri / an*la*mış*sın*dır ↷)
If you know some English, you must have understood these sentences.

In English, there are some conditional sentences whose both parts are
simple Present Tense. These sentences are formed in Turkish as follows:

Buz-u ısıt-ır-sa-an (buz) su-/y/a dönüş-ür.

(bu*zu / ı*sı*tır*san / su*ya / dö*nü*şür ↷)
If you heat ice, it turns to water.

Aç-sa-ak birsey yer-iz.

(aç*sak / bir*sey / ye*riz ↷)
If we are hungry, we eat something.

Yourul-ur-sa-ak dinlen-ir-iz.
(yo*ru*lur*sak / din*le*ni*riz ↷)
If we get tired, we rest.

1 (b): PRESENT UNREAL (CONTRARY TO FACT) SUPPOSITION

In the present unreal supposition, the “verb-♫[se, sa]-[subj allomorph]”
verb chain is used in the condition part, and "used to" (şimdiki zaman'ın
hikâyesi) is used in the second part of a conditional sentence:

Ev-de ol-sa-am kapı-/y/ı aç-ar-dı - ım.

adv clause of cond def object verb |
predicate subj allomorph
(ev*de / ol*sam / ka*pı*yı / a*çar*dım ↷)
If I were at home, I would open the door.

Cevap-ı bil-se-em sana söyle-er-di-im.

(ce*va:*bı / bil*sem /sa*na / söy*ler*dim ↷)
If I knew the answer, I would tell you. (I don't know the answer.)

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 CONDITIONAL SENTENCES IN ENGLISH AND TURKISH

Sen-in yer-in-de ol-sa-am böyle davran-maz-dı-ım.

(se*nin / ye*rin*de / ol*sam / böy*le / dav*ran*maz*dım ↷)
If I were you, I wouldn’t behave like that. (Advice)
Yap-acak bir sürü iş-im ol-ma-sa sen-in-le dışarı-/y/a çık-ar-dı-ım.
(ya*pa*cak / bir*sü*rü / i*şim / ol*ma*sa / se*nin*le / dı*şa*rı / çı*kar*dım↷)
If I didn’t have a lot of things to do, I would go out with you.
(Sorry, I have a lot of things to do.)

Baba-an-ın yer-i/n/-de ol-sa-am, (ben) (sen-in) araba kullan-ma-an-a izin

ver-mez-di-im. (ba*ba*nın / ye*rin*de / ol*sam / a*ra*ba / kul*lan*ma*na /
i*zin / ver*mez*dim↷) If I were your father, I wouldn’t let you drive.

The present unreal suppositions can also be used to express future

disappointment:

Yarın tatil ol-sa piknik-e git-er-di-ik.

(ya*rın / ta:*til / ol*sa / pik*ni*ğe / gi*der*dik ↷)
If tomorrow were a holiday, we would go for a picnic.

2 (a): PAST REAL SUPPOSITION

In the past real supposition, the “if clause” is supposed to be “true” and the
main clause is based on this true supposition. The structure of this type if
clause is “verb-[di/y/, dı/y/, dü/y/, du/y/, ti/y/, tı/y/, tü/y/, tu/y/]-[se, sa]-[subj
allomorph]”. The main clause is in The Simple Past form:

Paris’e git-ti/y/-se-en eyfel kulesi’/n/i gör-dü - ün.

adverb clause of condition definite object verb subj
predicate

If we want to add certainty to the result part of the conditional sentence

above, we use “verb-[müş]-[subj allomorph]-[tür, tur] verb composition:

Paris’e git-ti/y/-se, Eyfel Kulesi’/n/i gör-müş-tür. (The third person “he”)

(pa*ri*se / git*tiy*se / ey*fel / ku*le*si*ni / gör*müş*tür ↷)
If he went to Paris, he must have seen the Eiffel Tower.
(I think he went to Paris, and certainly he saw The Eiffel Tower.)

Note: If no subject allomorphs are used in the condition or the result parts
of the conditional sentences, they are the third person singular.

Yeter-ince çok çalış-tı/y/-sa, başar-mış-tır.

(ye*te*rin*ce / ça*lış*tıy*sa / ba*şar*mış*tır ↷)
If he worked hard enough, he must have succeeded.
(I believe he worked hard enough, and consequently he succeeded.)

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 CONDITIONAL SENTENCES IN ENGLISH AND TURKISH

Söyle-dik-ler-i doğru idi/y/-se, cezalandır-ıl-mış ol-amaz-lar.

(söy*le*dik*le*ri / doğ*ru / i*diy*se / ce*za:*lan*dı*rıl*mış / o*la*maz*lar ↷)
If what they said was true, they can’t have been punished.
Kafes-i açık bırak-tı/y/-sa-an, kuş uç-up git-miş-tir.
(ka*fe*si / a*çık / bı*rak*tıy*san / kuş / u*çup / git*miş*tir ↷)
If you left the cage open, the bird must have flown away.
İş-i-/n/i bitir-di/y/-se ev-e git-miş-tir. (Third person singular “he”)
(i*şi*ni / bi*tir*diy*se / e*ve / git*miş*tir ↷)
If he finished his work, he must have gone home.
Araba-/s/ı var-sa Bodrum-a git-miş-tir.
(a*ra*ba*sı / var*sa / bod*du*ma / git*miş*tir ↷)
If he had a car, he must have gone to Bodrum.

2 (b): PAST UNREAL (CONTRARY TO FACT) SUPPOSITION

To form an unreal past supposition, “verb-[se/y/-di, sa/y/-dı]-[subject
allomorph]” verb chain is used in the if part of a conditional sentence, and
the (Şimdiki Zaman'ın Hikâyesi) “used to” is used in the second part of it.
Compare the following:

Çalış-sa/y/-dı-ın sınav-ı geç-er-di - in

adv clause of cond def object verb |
predicate subj
If you had studied, you wold have passed the examnation.
(You did not study, so you did not pass the examination.)
Yarın tatil ol-sa sinema-/y/a git-er-di-ik.
(ya*rın / ta:*til / ol*sa / si*ne*ma*ya / gi*der*dik ↷)
If tomorrow were a holiday, we would go to the cinema. (Unreal)
Bugün tatil ol-sa sinema-/y/a git-er-di-ik.
(bu*gün / ta:*til /ol*sa / si*ne*ma*ya / gi*der*dik ↷)
If today were a holiday, we would go to the cinema. (Unreal)
Dün tatil ol-sa/y/-dı sinema-/y/a git-er-di-ik.
(dün / ta:*til / ol*say*dı~ / si*ne*ma*ya / gi*der*dik ↷) (Unreal)
If yesterday had been a holiday, we would have gone to the cinema.
(Yesterday was not a holiday, so we didn’t go.)

Dün onu gör-se/y/-di-im, onun-la konuş-ur-du-um.

(dün / o*nu / gör*sey*dim / o*nun*la / ko*nu*şur*dum ↷)
If I had seen him yesterday, I would have talked to him.
(I didn’t see him, so I didn’t talk to him.)

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 CONDITIONAL SENTENCES IN ENGLISH AND TURKISH

Kafes-i açık bırak-ma-sa/y/-dı-ın, kuş uç-up git-mez-di.

(ka*fe*si / a*çık / bı*rak*ma*say*dın / kuş / u*çup / git*mez*di ↷)
If you hadn’t left the cage open, the bird wouldn’t have flown away.
(You left the cage open, so the bird flew away.)

Birkaç tane daha problem çöz-se/y/-di-im, daha iyi bir not al-ır-dı-ım.
(bir*kaç / ta:*ne / da*ha / prob*lem / çöz*sey*dim / da*ha / i*yi / bir / not /
a*lır*dım ↷)
If I had solved a few more problems, I would have got a better grade.
(I couldn’t solve some more problems, and so I couldn’t get a better grade.)

Çabucak dur-ma-sa/y/-dı-ım, adam fena halde yaralan-abil-ir-di.

(ça*bu*cak / dur*ma*say*dım / a*dam / fe*na: / hal*de / ya*ra*la*na*bi*lir*di ↷)
If I hadn’t stopped suddenly, the man might have been badly injured.

Biz-im kaleci daha dikkat-li oyna-sa/y/-dı, maç-ı kaybet-mez-di-ik.

(bi*zim / ka*le*ci / da*ha / dik*kat*li / oy*na*say*dı ~ / ma*çı /
kay*bet*mez*dik ↷)
If our goalkeeper had played more carefully, we wouldn’t have lost the
match. (I regret to say that we lost it.)

O araba o kadar pahalı ol-ma-sa/y/-dı, onu (satın) al-ır-dı-ım.

(o / a*ra*ba / o / ka*dar / pa*ha*lı / ol*ma*say*dı / o*nu / a*lır*dım ↷)
If that car hadn’t been so expensive, I would have bought it.

İsviçre’de o kadar çok sağanak-a yakalan-ma-sa/y/-dı-ık, muhteşem

manzara-/n/ın zevk-ı-/n/e var-ır-dı-ık.
(is*viç*re*de / o / ka*dar / çok / sa*ğa*na*ğa / ya*ka*lan*ma*say*dık /
muh*te*şem / man*za*ra*nın / zev*kı*ne / va*rır*dık ↷)
If we hadn’t had so many thunderstorms in Switzerland, we would have
enjoyed the wonderful scenery.

İste-se/y/-di gel-ir-di.
(is*te*sey*di / ge*lir*di )
If he had wanted, he would have come.

Sometimes the “if” part of a conditional sentence may begin with an unreal
past supposition, but the main clause ends with an unreal present tense:

Dün bitir-se/y/-di-in, bugün onlar-ı postala-/y/abil-ir-di-ik.

(dün / bi*tir*sey*din / bu*gün / on*la*rı / pos*ta*la*ya*bi*lir*dik ↷)
If you had finished yesterday, we could post them today.