Good morning! I’m sorry, Zehra Hanım, I’m very late.
1gelirse: “if” after a tense
In Course 1’s Lesson 26, Efe planted a biscuit in a flowerpot saying Ya tutarsa!, “What if it works!” In this course’s Lesson 4, -sa dreamt out loud, and we said its “if” was a job for Lesson 8. Here it is.
Take tutarsa apart. tut is the stem, and -ar the aorist from Course 1’s Lesson 21: tutar, “it’ll work”. Only after the tense comes -sa: tutarsa, “if it works”. In a wish, -sa went straight onto the stem, gelsem; in this “if”, the tense comes first. From here on, we’ll call the aorist with -sa — tutarsa, gelirse — -rsa for short.
It’s the other half of Lesson 4’s dilek-şart kipi: the condition. TDK’s dictionary describes the şart kipi just so — it presents an action as a condition, and does duty as a wish too. The persons take the same endings as Course 1 Lesson 13’s -dı, just as in a wish. For “they” it’s gelirlerse: the -ler goes before the -se.
gelirsem, gelirsen, gelirse, gelirsek, gelirseniz, gelirlerse— if I come, you come, he (she) comes, we come, you come, they come
Yağmur yağarsa, içeride çalışırız.— If it rains, we’ll work inside.
Erken çıkarsan, geç kalmazsın.— If you leave early, you won’t be late.
Zehra Hanım ararsa, bana haber ver.— If Zehra Hanım rings, let me know.
“If not” is the aorist’s negative, -maz, with -sa after it: gelmez, gelmezse. For “I” it’s gelmezsem, even though “I won’t come” is gelmem:
gelmezsem, gelmezsen, gelmezse, gelmezsek, gelmezseniz, gelmezlerse— if I don’t come, you don’t, he (she) doesn’t, we don’t, you don’t, they don’t come
Vapur gelmezse, Marmaray’a bineriz.— If the ferry doesn’t come, we’ll take the Marmaray.
And ya in front is Efe’s “what if”:
Ya lodos olursa?— What if there’s a lodos?
-sa goes after the other tenses too: -dı, -yor, -acak, -mış. After -dı, which ends in a vowel, it takes the buffer y: geldi, geldiyse.
Kerem geldiyse, başlayalım.— If Kerem’s here, let’s start.
Yağmur yağıyorsa, şemsiyeni al.— If it’s raining, take your umbrella.
Bizimle gelecekseniz, erken çıkın.— If you’re coming with us, leave early.
Kapı yine kapanmışsa, çekin!— If the door’s shut again, pull!
You can put eğer, “if”, in front as well. TDK’s dictionary says it goes at the start of a conditional sentence to make the condition stronger. The “if” itself still lives in the -sa:
Eğer Orhan Bey ararsa, ben hamamdayım.— If Orhan Bey rings, I’m at the hamam.
2varsa and evdeyse: “if” without a verb
In Lesson 4, in a wish, var stepped aside for olmak: keşke bir bahçem olsa. And the same lesson promised you’d meet varsa too, meaning “if there is”, in Lesson 8. Its turn has come: -sa goes straight onto var and yok.
varsa, yoksa— if there is, if there isn’t
Zamanın varsa, bir kahve içelim.— If you’ve got time, let’s have a coffee.
Sorunuz yoksa, toplantı bitti.— If there are no questions, the meeting’s over.
Vapur yoksa, Marmaray var.— If there’s no ferry, there’s the Marmaray.
In the same way -sa goes onto any noun or adjective, like the -dı of evdeydim in Course 1’s Lesson 13: after a vowel, with the buffer y. So from here on we write it -(y)sa.
evdeysem, evdeysen, evdeyse, evdeysek, evdeyseniz, evdelerse— if I am, you are, he (she) is, we are, you are, they are at home
yorgunsam, hastaysan, öğrenciyseniz— if I’m tired, if you’re ill, if you’re students
Yorgunsan, eve git.— If you’re tired, go home.
Kerem Bey hamamdaysa, ona söyleyin.— If Kerem Bey’s at the hamam, tell him.
And değil, “not”, takes -se too. değilse is “if … not”:
Yorgun değilsen, biraz daha çalışalım.— If you’re not tired, let’s work a bit longer.
Hava kötü değilse, kubbeye çıkarız.— If the weather’s not bad, we’ll go up on the dome.
3görse and ne zaman … -sa: supposing, and whenever
The wish form, gelse, can say “if” too, when what would follow is said after it. In these examples it’s an “if” you picture rather than plan:
Zehra Hanım bunu görse, ne der?— What would Zehra Hanım say if she saw this?
Biraz dinlensen, iyi olursun.— If you rested a bit, you’d feel better.
Erken çıksan, geç kalmazsın.— If you left earlier, you wouldn’t be late.
With ne zaman in front, the same form gives “whenever”:
Ne zaman yağmur yağsa, şemsiyemi unuturum.— Whenever it rains, I forget my umbrella.
Ne zaman Orhan Bey’e gitsek, çay içeriz.— Whenever we go to Orhan Bey’s, we have tea.
It works with section 1’s -rsa just as well:
Ne zaman ararsam, telefonun kapalı!— Whenever I ring, your phone’s off!
4alırdım and alacaktım: “I would” and “I was going to”
In Lesson 4, -saydı was a regret: Keşke şemsiyemi alsaydım, “I wish I’d brought my umbrella.” Say what would have followed, and you have an “if”: Hava durumuna baksaydım, şemsiyemi alırdım, “If I’d checked the forecast, I’d have brought my umbrella.”
The second half is a new form, -ırdı: the aorist alır, then -dı. alırdım is “I would take”, or “I’d have taken”.
alırdım, alırdın, alırdı, alırdık, alırdınız, alırlardı— I, you, he (she), we, you, they would take
The negative is -mazdı, with -maz for “I” as well: almazdım.
almazdım, almazdın, almazdı, almazdık, almazdınız, almazlardı— I, you, he (she), we, you, they wouldn’t take
Hava durumuna baksaydım, erken çıkardım.— If I’d checked the forecast, I’d have left earlier.
Kerem kapıyı çekseydi, yarım saat beklemezdi.— If Kerem had pulled the door, he wouldn’t have waited half an hour.
With plain -sa, no -ydı, the same -ırdı makes an “if” about now: it isn’t so, but picture it:
Bir arabam olsa, her sabah arabayla gelirdim.— If I had a car, I’d drive in every morning.
Burada olsan, sana gösterirdim.— If you were here, I’d show you.
And one more new form, -acaktı: -acak, then -dı. gelecektim is “I was going to come”. In these examples a “but” follows: the plan fell through.
gelecektim, gelecektin, gelecekti, gelecektik, gelecektiniz, geleceklerdi— I, you, he (she), we, you, they were going to come
Seni arayacaktım, ama unuttum.— I was going to ring you, but I forgot.
Bu akşam sinemaya gidecektik, ama Defne hasta.— We were going to the cinema tonight, but Defne’s ill.
It turns up in an “if” too, where something was in the plans:
Lodos olmasaydı, saat dokuzda burada olacaktım.— If it hadn’t been for the lodos, I’d have been here at nine.
5ise, öyleyse, neyse, yoksa: four words from one “if”
Every -sa after a tense or a noun is one word, ise, written joined on. TDK’s spelling rules allow it either way: gelir ise or gelirse, yok ise or yoksa. Joined on, it drops its i — after a vowel the buffer y takes its place — and follows the harmony; on its own, ise never changes.
Vapur yok ise, Marmaray var.— If there’s no ferry, there’s the Marmaray.
Here, ise isn’t “if” any more. It sets two things side by side and goes after the second of them, Kerem; in English it’s “while”:
Zehra Hanım her sabah sekizde gelir, Kerem ise onda.— Zehra Hanım comes in at eight every morning, while Kerem comes in at ten.
öyleyse is öyle, “so”, plus ise: “if so”. TDK’s dictionary gives it as a conclusion, “in that case”. In English it’s usually “then”:
— Lodos var. — Öyleyse Marmaray’a binelim.— — There’s a lodos. — Then let’s take the Marmaray.
neyse, “anyway”, is built the same way: ne plus ise. TDK’s spelling rules give it as an example, next to gelirse: ne ise, neyse.
yoksa, yok plus -sa, “if not”, has become a word of its own. Its first meaning in TDK’s dictionary is “otherwise”:
Erken çıkın, yoksa geç kalırsınız.— Leave early, or you’ll be late.
TDK also says it strongly expresses feelings like worry, curiosity or hope — as here, at the start of a question. In English it’s “don’t tell me…”:
Yoksa kapı yine mi kapandı?— Don’t tell me the door’s shut again?
6One “if”, four ways
The lodos and the ferry make one “if”. Here it is, told four ways:
Yarın lodos olursa, vapur kalkmaz.— If there’s a lodos tomorrow, the ferry won’t sail.
Şimdi lodos varsa, vapur kalkmıyor.— If there’s a lodos on now, the ferry isn’t sailing.
Lodos olsa, vapur kalkmazdı.— If there were a lodos, the ferry wouldn’t be sailing.
Dün lodos olsaydı, vapur kalkmazdı.— If there’d been a lodos yesterday, the ferry wouldn’t have sailed.
In short, what each one says here, about the lodos and the ferry:
olursa— -rsa: it may happen, later on
varsa— varsa: it may be so right now
olsa … kalkmazdı— -sa … -ırdı: it isn’t so now, but picture it
olsaydı … kalkmazdı— -saydı … -ırdı: it wasn’t so then, and that’s that
With olmak, as Lesson 4 showed, olsaydı can be about now as well: Keşke burada olsaydın, “I wish you were here.”
7Türkiye up close: the lodos
In the dialogue below, Kerem is late for a meeting because of the lodos. It’s a wind, and TDK’s dictionary puts it precisely: a local wind that blows from the south or south-west and sometimes brings rain. lodos is also the day it blows, and the direction itself: south-west, 225 degrees. The dictionary’s example: in a lodos, nobody goes out fishing.
In Course 1’s Lesson 5, the vapur went from Karaköy to Kadıköy. A lodos can stop those ferries. On 3 January 2026 the newspaper Milliyet reported that, after the state weather service’s warnings, the city ferries, Şehir Hatları, cancelled sailings, including those on the Kadıköy–Kabataş line, “until further notice”.
The winds in TDK’s dictionary come with degrees, too. poyraz is a cold wind from the north-east, and the north-east itself, 45 degrees; keşişleme is the south-east wind and the south-east, 135 degrees; lodos is 225. And yıldız, “star”, means “north” there too: 360 degrees.
The same dictionary’s example for poyraz is on a ferry as well: the ferry passing the Maiden’s Tower, with the poyraz striking from the left.
8Dialogue: no ferry in a lodos
October, a Monday, twenty to ten. The office meeting started at nine: Zehra Hanım and Defne are bent over the hamam’s plan. The door opens and in comes Kerem, wet and out of breath.
Kerem:
Günaydın! Özür dilerim, Zehra Hanım, çok geç kaldım.
Zehra:
Günaydın, Kerem Bey. Toplantı saat dokuzda başladı.
Good morning, Kerem Bey. The meeting started at nine.
Kerem:
Biliyorum. Bugün planı ben anlatacaktım, ama lodos var! Lodos varsa, vapur yok!
I know. I was going to present the plan today, but there’s a lodos! If there’s a lodos, there’s no ferry!
Zehra:
Vapur yoksa, Marmaray var, Kerem Bey.
If there’s no ferry, there’s the Marmaray, Kerem Bey.
Defne:
Kerem, Zehra Hanım her şeyi affeder, geç kalmayı affetmez. Unuttun mu?
Kerem, Zehra Hanım forgives everything except lateness. Have you forgotten?
Kerem:
Unutmadım. Hava durumuna baksaydım, erken çıkardım.
I haven’t. If I’d checked the forecast, I’d have left earlier.
Zehra:
Ne zaman lodos olsa, İstanbul’un yarısı geç kalır. Neyse. Perşembe hamamda ölçüm var. Hava güzel olursa, kubbeye çıkarız.
Whenever there’s a lodos, half of İstanbul is late. Anyway. On Thursday we’re measuring at the hamam. If the weather’s good, we’ll go up on the dome.
Defne:
Yağmur yağarsa?
And if it rains?
Zehra:
Yağmur yağarsa, içeride çizeriz. Kapı yine kapanırsa…
If it rains, we’ll draw inside. And if the door shuts again…
Kerem:
…çekeriz! Biliyorum, Zehra Hanım.
…we pull! I know, Zehra Hanım.
Zehra:
Defne Hanım arabayla gidiyor, siz ise vapurla.
Defne Hanım is driving, while you take the ferry.
Defne:
Perşembe lodos olursa, seni evden alırım, Kerem.
If there’s a lodos on Thursday, I’ll pick you up at home, Kerem.
Kerem:
Sağ ol! Ah, bir arabam olsa…
Thanks! Oh, if only I had a car…
Defne:
Araban olsa, lodosta değil, trafikte geç kalırdın!
If you had a car, you’d be late because of the traffic, not the lodos!
Zehra:
Öyleyse perşembe saat dokuzda hamamın önündeyiz. Erken çıkın, Kerem Bey, yoksa…
Then on Thursday at nine we’re outside the hamam. Leave early, Kerem Bey, or else…
Kerem:
Yoksa?
Or else?
Zehra:
Yoksa lodosta kubbeye siz çıkarsınız.
Or else you’re the one going up on the dome in the lodos.
Defne:
Bu arada, Kerem, sana bir mektup geldi. Üsküdar’dan.
By the way, Kerem, there’s a letter for you. From Üsküdar.
Kerem:
Orhan Bey’den mi? Eğer yine penaltıysa, ben yokum!
From Orhan Bey? If it’s the penalty again, count me out!
Defne:
Zarfta “Meral” yazıyor.
It says “Meral” on the envelope.
The real “if”: olursa, yağarsa, kapanırsa; without a verb: varsa, yoksa, penaltıysa; “would”: baksaydım … çıkardım and araban olsa … kalırdın; “was going to”: anlatacaktım; “whenever”: ne zaman lodos olsa; and all four words of section 5. The rule Defne whispers to Kerem is her own, from this course’s Lesson 1. Marmaray is the train that runs under the Bosphorus. ölçüm is “measuring”, from ölçmek; in seni evden alırım, almak is “to pick someone up”. Ben yokum! is literally “I’m not here”; here, “count me out”. bu arada is “by the way”.
9Reading
The letter from Üsküdar, handwritten. Everything below was written by Meral Hanım, Orhan Bey’s wife. Read it through; open a translation only where you’re stuck.
Meral Hanım’dan bir mektup
Meral Hanım’s letter to Kerem.
Sevgili Kerem Bey,
Dear Kerem Bey,
Çay günü, çaydan sonra Orhan size bir saat penaltıyı anlattı.
On the day of the tea, Orhan spent an hour after tea explaining the penalty to you.
Ben de yüzünüze baktım.
And I watched your face.
Otuz yıldır bu yüzü her misafirimizde görüyorum.
For thirty years I’ve seen that face on every guest of ours.
Öyleyse penaltıyı ben anlatayım. Kısa olacak, söz veriyorum.
So let me explain the penalty. It’ll be short, I promise.
Bir oyuncu kendi ceza alanında rakibine faul yaparsa, hakem penaltı verir.
If a player fouls an opponent in their own penalty area, the referee gives a penalty.
Top, kaleden on bir metre uzakta.
The ball sits eleven metres from the goal.
Kalede yalnız kaleci var.
There’s no one in goal but the keeper.
Kaleci topu tutarsa, gol yok. Tutamazsa, gol!
If the keeper stops it, no goal. If not — goal!
Hepsi bu.
That’s all there is to it.
Bunu nereden biliyorum?
How do I know all this?
Otuz yıldır her akşam Orhan anlatıyor, ben ise dinliyorum.
For thirty years Orhan has done the explaining every evening, while I’ve done the listening.
Çayda Orhan “Meral otuz yıldır anlamıyor” dedi.
At the tea Orhan said, “Meral hasn’t got it in thirty years.”
Ben penaltıyı ilk akşam anladım.
I understood the penalty on the very first evening.
Ama ona hiç söylemedim.
But I never told him.
Söyleseydim, Orhan otuz yıl her akşam bana ne anlatırdı?
If I had, what would Orhan have told me about every evening for thirty years?
“Duvar duvardır” da öyle.
And “a wall is a wall” — same thing.
Sizden bir ricam var.
I have one favour to ask.
Penaltıyı anladınız. Bunu Orhan’a söylemeyin, yoksa bir daha anlatmaz.
You understand the penalty now. Don’t tell Orhan, or he’ll never explain it again.
Anlatırken çok mutlu oluyor.
He’s so happy when he’s explaining it.
Yine anlatırsa, yine dinleyin. Bir de soru sorun:
If he explains it again, listen again. And ask a question:
“Kaleci topu tutarsa ne olur?”
“What happens if the keeper stops it?”
Buna çok sevinir.
He’ll be delighted.
Sevgilerimle,
With love,
Meral
Meral
ceza alanı is the penalty area; ceza sahası is the same thing, and TDK’s dictionary sends you on to ceza alanı. faul yapmak is “to foul”. Sizden bir ricam var is Can’s Senden bir ricam var from Course 1 Lesson 23, “I’ve got a favour to ask you”, said politely. Meral Hanım’s tutarsa is the verb of Efe’s Ya tutarsa!, only here the keeper “stops” the ball. ben ise, “while I”, is section 5’s. sevgilerimle is a warm sign-off; Orhan Bey signs his letters Saygılarımla.
1When did Meral Hanım understand the penalty?
2What does she ask Kerem?
3Why has she kept quiet for thirty years?
10The lesson’s new words
These are the words the lesson brought in for the first time, in the order you met them. The forms themselves — -rsa, -(y)sa, -ırdı, -acaktı — stay in their sections; the words that turn up only in “Türkiye up close” stay there too.
New words
- lodosthe lodos, a south-west wind
- eğerif
- yoksaotherwise; don’t tell me…?
- isewhile; if
- öyleso, like that
- öyleysethen, in that case
- neyseanyway
- ölçümmeasuring, measurement
- trafiktraffic
- bu aradaby the way
- ceza alanıpenalty area
- faulfoul
- SevgilerimleWith love (signing a letter)
11Say it yourself
Out loud first, then the answer. Each one needs an “if” of some kind. Getting it wrong and then checking is exactly what this is for.
if it rains tomorrow, we’ll work inside
Yarın yağmur yağarsa, içeride çalışırız.
if you’ve got time, let’s have a coffee
Zamanın varsa, bir kahve içelim.
if you’re not tired, let’s work a bit longer
Yorgun değilsen, biraz daha çalışalım.
if I had a car, I’d drive in
Bir arabam olsa, arabayla gelirdim.
if I’d checked the forecast, I’d have brought my umbrella
Hava durumuna baksaydım, şemsiyemi alırdım.
leave early, or you’ll be late
Erken çıkın, yoksa geç kalırsınız.
12Check yourself
Six items. A miss shows you the right answer straight away, and why.
1Match each picture to its word.
2Fill in the right word: “If it rains, we’ll draw inside.”
Yağmur ? içeride çizeriz.
3How do you say “If you’re at home, I’ll drop by”?
4Lodos olmasaydı, vapur kalkardı — what does it mean?
5Fill in the right word: “Leave early, or you’ll be late.”
Erken çıkın, ? geç kalırsınız.
6Bugün erken gelecektim — what does it mean?
13Homework
Two to say aloud, three to write. Write by hand or in your phone’s notes, then read it aloud: the ear finds what the eye let through.
- -rsa through every person, out loud, with one verb: gelirsem, gelirsen… — all the way to onlar. Then the negative: gelmezsem… And the same with -ırdı: gelirdim, gelmezdim…
- A chain, out loud: start with Yarın hava güzel olursa… and keep going — what happens if what you just said happens. Five links.
- Your plans for the weekend — five or six sentences with -rsa and -(y)sa: what you’ll do if the weather’s good, if it rains, if an old friend rings, if you’ve got time.
- Supposing: a car, a free year, a house by the sea — what would you do? And one thing you’d have done differently yesterday: -saydı … -ırdı.
- A letter like Meral Hanım’s: explain a rule to someone — of a game, your job or your home — in a few sentences with “if”. Sign it Sevgilerimle.