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Using ´if´ in Turkish sentences, the ´ise´ suffix
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10. |
25 Dec 2011 Sun 10:52 am |
The problem about past tense, and not only in Turkish, is that in addition to
denoting action that took place before this point in time
it also has the function of
making a distance between reality and other possible worlds.
It is kind of playing in two different levels of abstraction. Separating these two is sometimes a problem especially when you try to learn a new language. That´s why there is such a desperate need for simple rules like
I.
A- Yorgun görünüyorsun, yine çok geç mi yattın?- You look tired, did you go to bed too late again?
B- Evet, geç yattım.. - Yes, I did..
A -Erken yatsaydın yorgun olmazdın => you should go to bed earlier..
II.
A- Yorgun görünüyorsun, yine çok geç mi yattın?- You look tired, did you go to bed too late again?
B- Hayır, geç yatmadım.. - No, I didn´t..
A -Erken yatsaydın yorgun olmazdın => then why do you look tired? maybe you lie about the time you going to bed?
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11. |
25 Dec 2011 Sun 01:49 pm |
The problem about past tense, and not only in Turkish, is that in addition to
denoting action that took place before this point in time
it also has the function of
making a distance between reality and other possible worlds.
It is kind of playing in two different levels of abstraction. Separating these two is sometimes a problem especially when you try to learn a new language. That´s why there is such a desperate need for simple rules like
You want to dig it deeper..
For the function you mentioned above, we use the past tense in the main clause in the present-unreal condition (when it is associated with counterfactual statements ):
Here is an example taken from one of my previous posts:
Fransızcayı iyi konuşsam Fransa´ya gezmeye giderdim.
(direct translation=> If I speak French well, I would take a trip to France )
Using the past tense in the ise clause creates the sense that an action took place.. but it may also be used for an ongoing situation and this may make the same sense as present tense does in the ise clause depending on the contex ..
Fransızcayı iyi konuşsaydım Fransa´ya giderdim.
(direct translation=> If I spoke French well, I would take a trip to France )
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12. |
25 Dec 2011 Sun 04:29 pm |
Erken yatsaydın yorgun olmazdın => you should go to bed earlier..
Erken yatsaydın yorgun olmazdın => then why do you look tired? maybe you lie about the time you going to bed?
I see you understand what I ment. Obviously I was trying to make a difference which doesn´t exist in language.
In English, shouldn´t it be If I spoke French well I would take a trip to France in both cases? (Henry?) This is what I ment when I said it is not only the Turkish rules but the English rules also that confuse me.
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13. |
26 Dec 2011 Mon 12:56 am |
In English, shouldn´t it be If I spoke French well I would take a trip to France in both cases? (Henry?) This is what I ment when I said it is not only the Turkish rules but the English rules also that confuse me.
Or in English, you could also say: If I could speak French well, I would take a trip to France. But see, with even a little variation like that, can´t it change how you would say it in Turkish? If not for this example then surely many others?
And on consideration, I think they are pretty much interchangeable. And as a learner, I quite agree that its when the tense changes from "on-going" to "past", but uses the same suffix, or like how "giderdim" can denote "I would go" which is a hypothetical situation.
**************************************
Erken yola çıkarlarsa oraya zamanında varabilirler - If they leave early, they can get there on time.
If they leave=yola çıkarlar + sa. But if its 3rd person plural, I thought this needed -seler/-salar after aorist tense? and would make çıkarsalar.
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14. |
26 Dec 2011 Mon 03:19 am |
Or in English, you could also say: If I could speak French well, I would take a trip to France. But see, with even a little variation like that, can´t it change how you would say it in Turkish? If not for this example then surely many others?
And on consideration, I think they are pretty much interchangeable. And as a learner, I quite agree that its when the tense changes from "on-going" to "past", but uses the same suffix, or like how "giderdim" can denote "I would go" which is a hypothetical situation.
**************************************
Erken yola çıkarlarsa oraya zamanında varabilirler - If they leave early, they can get there on time.
If they leave=yola çıkarlar + sa. But if its 3rd person plural, I thought this needed -seler/-salar after aorist tense? and would make çıkarsalar.
You could say, "Fransızcayı iyi konuşabilseydim" but it doesn´t change the meaning.. and yes, konuşsaydım and konuşabilseydim are interchangable.. at least in this sentence..
***
I see your point..
git.se.m, git.se.n, git.se, git.se.k, git.se.niz, git.se.ler
But when there is a tense suffix, -lar/-ler is tend to follow it:
çık.ar.lar.sa, çık.mış.lar.sa, çık.tı.lar.sa, çık.a.cak.lar.sa
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15. |
26 Dec 2011 Mon 03:30 am |
In English, shouldn´t it be If I spoke French well I would take a trip to France in both cases? (Henry?) This is what I ment when I said it is not only the Turkish rules but the English rules also that confuse me.
Yes, ´if I spoke French well´ sounds more natural to me. It suggests that I know some French, but I am not fluent in French yet.
"If I spoke French" does not say how much French I know. It suggests I do not know much, or none.
"If I speak French well" doesn´t sound natural to me. Unfortunately I cannot explain why, using grammar rules. Something about the combination of the conditional, simple present tense and the adverb "well".
My friend speaks excellent French. If I could speak French as well as her, I would definitely travel to France. (This combination sounds fine to me.)
"If I could speak French, I would go to France" suggests that I cannot speak French, because I know no French, or not very much French. It is very similar to "If I spoke French" in my opinion.
Erken yola çıkarlarsa oraya zamanında varabilirler - If they leave early, they can get there on time.
If they leave=yola çıkarlar + sa. But if its 3rd person plural, I thought this needed -seler/-salar after aorist tense? and would make çıkarsalar.
An excellent question. My recent notes also contradict each other.
All my books and reference web-sites always use -selar/salar for 3rd person plural (they)
But recently I have noticed lerse/larsa being used by Turks. Has the language evolved?
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16. |
26 Dec 2011 Mon 06:12 am |
I see your point..
git.se.m, git.se.n, git.se, git.se.k, git.se.niz, git.se.ler
But when there is a tense suffix, -lar/-ler is tend to follow it:
çık.ar.lar.sa, çık.mış.lar.sa, çık.tı.lar.sa, çık.a.cak.lar.sa
Thanks for the clarification scalpel.
I checked some of my other notes and found Erdinc´s table of conditional suffix conjugations, where I could never see the last column.
Below is the part I could never see
tense
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Suffixes
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3. plural
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simple past
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-di + -se
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geldiyse
geldilerse
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simple present
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-er + -se
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gelirse
gelirlerse
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present continuous
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-iyor + -sa
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geliyorsa
geliyorlarsa
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reported past
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-miş + -se
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gelmişse
gelmişlerse
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future
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-ecek + -se
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gelecekse
geleceklerse
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necessitive
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-meli + -se
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gelmeliyse
gelmeliyseler
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Another question from me -
Is my understanding correct, that in sentences you only use the suffix ´ler´ on verbs for people, and when the subject is not stated or obvious as being plural ?
Edited (12/26/2011) by Henry
Edited (12/26/2011) by Henry
[added table and another question]
Edited (12/26/2011) by Henry
[tried to increase table word size]
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17. |
19 Feb 2012 Sun 07:52 am |
Gallia valisi onu durdurmaya çalıştıysa da, yenilgiye uğradı. Crassus köleleri kuşattıysa da, Spartaküs kuşatmayı yararak çekildi.
Another way to say ´even if´? Does it work in present tense also: aorist + -ise + de?
(Henry, I hope you don´t mind me using your thread, I hate to split things into small pieces.)
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18. |
20 Feb 2012 Mon 12:05 am |
Gallia valisi onu durdurmaya çalıştıysa da, yenilgiye uğradı. Crassus köleleri kuşattıysa da, Spartaküs kuşatmayı yararak çekildi.
(1) Another way to say ´even if´? (2)Does it work in present tense also: aorist + -ise + de?
(1)
even => de / bile
if => -se
even if => ise de / ise bile
(2) Why not?
aorist + (-se) + de / bile
gelse de, alsan da, bilsem de, etc..
Özür dilesen de affetmeyeceğim - I won´t forgive you even if you apologize
Vaktim olsa(ydı ) da (onu) yapmazdım - Even if I had time, I wouldn´t do it
Edited (2/20/2012) by scalpel
[unwanted smileys are killing me!]
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19. |
20 Feb 2012 Mon 08:14 am |
Thank you, scalpel.
But there seems to be no aorist (even though I expected it). In the present tense ise attaches straight to the stem but in the past there is -di- in the middle.
çalış|tıy|sa da
dile|se|n de.
Just like the past condition was more real than the present. Which is true when you come to think of it.
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20. |
20 Feb 2012 Mon 01:17 pm |
But there seems to be no aorist (even though I expected it)...
Gallia valisi onu durdurmaya çalıştıysa da, yenilgiye uğradı.
Keep expecting.. It also could be written as this:
Gallia valisi onu durdurmaya çalışsa da başaramadı.*
*( I prefere başaramadı to yenilgiye uğradı in this sentence)
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