Everyone, we’re not going to Üsküdar today. Nobody works on the street until the snow stops.
1kar durana kadar: “until…”
You’ve known kadar since Course 1’s Lesson 11: sabahtan akşama kadar, “from morning till night”, and Kaça kadar?, “until when?”. There a word with -a stood in front of it, saying up to what. Today a verb does, and you get “until”.
Kar durana kadar sokakta çalışılmaz.— Nobody works on the street until the snow stops.
Add -ana or -ene to the verb’s stem — the last vowel picks which, as with -a / -e — then kadar. durana even ends in the same -a as akşama. After a vowel the buffer y steps in: oku, okuyana kadar; bekle, bekleyene kadar.
Toplantı bitene kadar telefonlarınızı kapatın.— Turn your phones off until the meeting’s over.
Proje bitene kadar tatil yok.— No holidays till the project’s finished.
Yağmur durana kadar pastanede oturduk.— We sat in the pastane until the rain stopped.
Kerem çayı soğuyana kadar telefonuna bakar.— Kerem looks at his phone till his tea goes cold.
The verb before kadar takes no tense and no person: gelene is the same for “I”, “you” and “they”, for yesterday and for tomorrow. The word before it says who, and the verb at the end says when, as with -madan in Course 1’s Lesson 24:
Ben gelene kadar bekle.— Wait till I come.
Onlar gelene kadar bekledik.— We waited till they came.
English has it easy here: gelene kadar is plain “until … comes”. And just as English says “until you come”, never “until you will come”, the Turkish carries no future either: no tense at all.
2onarılıncaya kadar: the same, only longer
-ana kadar has a longer twin: -ıncaya kadar. In the examples here the two say the same thing — compare:
Kar durana kadar evdeyim.— I’m staying in until the snow stops.
Kar duruncaya kadar evdeyim.— I’m staying in until the snow stops.
-ıncaya comes four ways, like -ım: -ıncaya, -inceye, -uncaya, -ünceye. The stem’s last vowel picks the first vowel, and the second, a or e, follows the first. After a vowel the buffer y steps in again: okuyuncaya, bekleyinceye.
| Last vowel | -ana kadar | -ıncaya kadar |
|---|---|---|
| a ı | kal → kalana | kal → kalıncaya |
| e i | bit → bitene | bit → bitinceye |
| o u | dur → durana | dur → duruncaya |
| ö ü | dön → dönene | dön → dönünceye |
Last lesson’s passive slots straight in: onar, -ıl, -ıncaya, “until it’s repaired”. You’ll hear this onarılıncaya kadar from Tolga Bey in today’s dialogue:
Payandalar onarılıncaya kadar kimse cumbada oturmamalı.— Nobody should sit in the cumba until the supports are repaired.
Proje kabul edilinceye kadar bekleyeceğiz.— We’ll wait until the project is accepted.
You’ll also meet dek where you’d expect kadar. TDK’s dictionary explains it as a word that shows the time or place where a job or a state comes to an end, and gives kadar as its synonym. One of the same dictionary’s examples for sıra has gelinceye dek, “until it comes”.
-ınca without the -ya kadar is another form, with a meaning of its own; we’ll get to it.
3gelmeden önce or gelene kadar: before, or until
English keeps “before” and “until” apart, and so does Turkish. Course 1’s Lesson 24 gave you -madan önce: Misafirler gelmeden önce evi temizleyelim, “Let’s tidy the house before the guests arrive.” The tidying is over by the time they ring the bell.
Misafirler gelmeden önce evi temizleyelim.— Let’s tidy the house before the guests arrive.
If the work goes on right up to the moment they arrive, it’s -ana kadar:
Misafirler gelene kadar mutfakta çalıştık.— We worked in the kitchen until the guests arrived.
Notice too that -madan has a “not” inside it — “not having come yet” — while -ana kadar has none. Here’s the snow from both sides:
Kar yağmadan önce eve gidelim.— Let’s go home before it snows.
Kar durana kadar evdeyiz.— We’re staying in until the snow stops.
4okuyacağım sırada: just as I was about to
Lesson 5 gave you çıkacakken: “was about to go out” — and usually didn’t: something got there first. Tam çıkacakken Zehra Hanım aradı, “I was just about to leave when Zehra Hanım rang.” -acakken doesn’t say who was about to; the rest of the sentence does. Today’s form says it itself.
Tam kitabımın son sayfasını okuyacağım sırada Kerem geldi.— I was just about to read the last page of my book when Kerem came in.
It’s built from things you know: Course 1 Lesson 17’s future -acak; a possessive ending for who was about to, as in Lesson 7’s geldiğimden beri; and the word sırada or zaman. Before a vowel the k becomes ğ, softening, as in çocuğu: okuyacak, okuyacağım. Here’s every person, on girmek, “to go in”:
ben → gireceğim sırada— I → as I was about to go in
sen → gireceğin sırada— you → as you were about to go in
o → gireceği sırada— he, she → as he (she) was about to go in
biz → gireceğimiz sırada— we → as we were about to go in
siz → gireceğiniz sırada— you → as you were about to go in
onlar → girecekleri sırada— they → as they were about to go in
For onlar the ending starts with a consonant, -leri, so the k stays a k, as in Lesson 7’s başladıklarından beri.
sıra is a row, a queue, a turn, but TDK’s dictionary also gives it the sense of “the time that falls to something”. So sırada is “at the moment”, and with tam, “just at the moment”. zaman is simply “time”, “when”. In the examples below, sırada marks one moment when something got in the way, and zaman something that happens every time, or a request for later:
Tam çizimi bitireceğim sırada Zehra Hanım yeni bir iş verdi.— Just as I was about to finish the drawing, Zehra Hanım handed me a new job.
Tam kahve yapacağımız sırada su kesildi.— Just as we were about to make coffee, the water was cut off.
Zehra Hanım yeni bir binaya gireceği zaman önce cepheye bakar.— Whenever Zehra Hanım’s about to go into a new building, she looks at the façade first.
Ofise geleceğin zaman bana yaz, kahve yaparım.— Text me when you’re about to come to the office, and I’ll make coffee.
Yola çıkacağınız zaman bize haber verir misiniz?— Will you let us know when you’re about to set off?
And one trap. On its own, geleceğim is “I’ll come”, Course 1 Lesson 17’s future. With zaman, as in the second example below, the same word means “when I’m about to come”: the -im is now a possessive, “my”. Only “I” looks the same both ways; every other person differs. “I” first, then the rest:
Yarın geleceğim.— I’ll come tomorrow.
Geleceğim zaman sana yazarım.— I’ll text you when I’m about to come.
geleceksin → geleceğin zaman; gelecek → geleceği zaman— you’ll come → when you’re about to come; he’ll come → when he’s about to come
geleceğiz → geleceğimiz zaman; geleceksiniz → geleceğiniz zaman; gelecekler → gelecekleri zaman— we’ll come → when we’re about to; you’ll come → when you’re about to; they’ll come → when they’re about to
5“About to”: three ways
You now have three ways to say “about to” and “just about to”. Course 1 Lesson 25’s -mak üzere is a whole sentence on its own: Çıkmak üzereyim, “I’m just leaving!”, and with -(y)dı, “I was just about to”:
Çıkmak üzereyim. Beş dakika sonra oradayım!— I’m just leaving. I’ll be there in five minutes!
Tam seni aramak üzereydim!— I was just about to ring you!
Lesson 5’s -acakken and today’s -acağım sırada aren’t sentences on their own: they need a second half, what happened just then. Here they say the same thing:
Tam seni arayacakken sen aradın.— I was just about to ring you, and you rang me.
Tam seni arayacağım sırada sen aradın.— I was just about to ring you, and you rang me.
In the word itself, the difference is this: -acakken has no person, -acağım sırada has one. When you want the person in the word, the second does it: arayacağımız sırada, “just as we were about to ring”.
6Türkiye up close: boza on a winter night
In Lesson 10 the neighbour at number 3 wrote: “You can see the whole street from my cumba.” On a winter night a long “Bozaaa!” sometimes carries up a street like hers. That’s the bozacı, the boza seller, on his round.
TDK’s dictionary describes boza as a thickish drink, sweet or slightly sour, made by fermenting a dough of grain — barley, millet, maize, wheat and so on. It’s drunk in winter, with cinnamon, tarçın, and roasted chickpeas, leblebi, sprinkled on top.
How thick? The language tells you: in the same dictionary, boza gibi, “like boza”, is said of any liquid with a thick consistency.
Bu kahve boza gibi!— This coffee’s like boza!
bozacı is whoever makes or sells it, with Course 1 Lesson 10’s -cı. The dictionary’s example for the word is a whole scene: in winter, however cold it gets, you hear the bozacı’s footsteps.
And he announces himself: he walks the street at night drawing out “Bozaaa!”, and someone hurries to the window. These days boza is usually bought at the shop, but on a winter night you can still hear that call in the streets. Then there’s only one thing for it — stay by the window:
Bozacı gelene kadar pencerenin önündeyiz.— We’re at the window till the bozacı comes.
7Dialogue: a snowy Wednesday
A Wednesday at the end of January. Snow fell in the night, and it’s still coming down. In Lesson 10, under the office’s notice, the neighbour at number 3 promised the workers tea at ten; today she gets a name. Everyone’s at the office: nobody’s going out on site today.
Zehra:
Arkadaşlar, bugün Üsküdar’a gitmiyoruz. Kar durana kadar sokakta çalışılmaz.
Tolga:
Doğru. Ama bir sorun var, Zehra Hanım: üç numaranın cumbası.
Right. But there’s a problem, Zehra Hanım: the cumba at number 3.
Tolga:
Payandaları çok eski. Bu karda, payandalar onarılıncaya kadar kimse o cumbada oturmamalı.
Its supports are very old. In this snow, nobody should sit in that cumba until they’ve been repaired.
Defne:
Ama Sabiha Hanım o cumbada sabahtan akşama kadar oturuyor.
But Sabiha Hanım sits in that cumba from morning till night.
Defne:
Dün gece tam kitabımın son sayfasını okuyacağım sırada beni aradı: “Defne Hanım, cumba gıcırdıyor!”
Last night, just as I was about to read the last page of my book, she rang me: “Defne Hanım, the cumba’s creaking!”
Kerem:
Duyuruyu hatırlıyor musun, Defne? “Sorularınız Defne Hanım tarafından cevaplanacak.”
Remember the notice, Defne? “Your questions will be answered by Defne Hanım.”
Defne:
Peki, peki. Arıyorum.
All right, all right. I’m ringing her.
Defne:
Günaydın, Sabiha Hanım! Payandalar onarılıncaya kadar cumbada oturmayın, lütfen.
Good morning, Sabiha Hanım! Please don’t sit in the cumba until the supports have been repaired.
Sabiha:
Peki, kızım. Ama bir şartım var.
All right, dear. But I have one condition.
Sabiha:
Otuz yıldır her kış akşamı saat dokuzda cumbadan bozacıya sepet indiriyorum.
For thirty years, every winter evening at nine, I’ve let a basket down from the cumba to the bozacı.
Sabiha:
Bozacı sokağa gireceği zaman bağırır: “Bozaaa!” Ben de sepeti indiririm.
When the bozacı’s about to turn into the street, he calls out: “Bozaaa!” And I let the basket down.
Sabiha:
Bu akşam bozacıya kim söyleyecek?
Who’s going to tell the bozacı tonight?
Defne:
Sabiha Hanım soruyor: bu akşam bozacıya kim söyleyecek?
Sabiha Hanım’s asking: who’s going to tell the bozacı tonight?
Kerem:
Saat dokuzda mı? Ben o saatte penaltı izliyorum.
At nine? I’m watching penalties at that time.
Tolga:
Ben beklerim. Kaleciyim, beklemeyi bilirim.
I’ll wait. I’m a goalkeeper; I know how to wait.
Zehra:
Kar durana kadar sokakta çalışılmaz, Tolga Bey.
Nobody works on the street until the snow stops, Tolga Bey.
Tolga:
Bu iş değil, Zehra Hanım. Boza.
This isn’t work, Zehra Hanım. It’s boza.
durana kadar and onarılıncaya kadar are “until”; okuyacağım sırada and gireceği zaman are “just as I was about to” and “when he’s about to”. sabahtan akşama kadar is Course 1 Lesson 11’s. indirmek is the causative of inmek, “to go down”: to make something go down, to let it down. kızım, literally “my girl”, is Sabiha Hanım’s “dear”: TDK’s dictionary lists kız as a word an older person uses to address a woman or a girl. The notice Kerem remembers is from Lesson 10’s “Reading”, and the penalties on his phone from Lesson 5. And Tolga Bey raised the supports at his interview: Önce onlar onarılmalı, “They need repairing first.”
8Reading
Three weeks later. Üsküdar’s local paper interviews its bozacı. The paper’s questions are plain lines, and the answers start with a dash. Read it through; open a translation only where you’re stuck.
Mahallenin sesi
An interview from the local paper — with a man you hear before you see.
Hayri Bey kırk yıldır Üsküdar’ın sokaklarında boza satıyor.
Hayri Bey has been selling boza in the streets of Üsküdar for forty years.
Ne zaman satıyorsunuz?
When do you sell it?
— Kasımdan bahara kadar, her akşam. Boza soğuğu sever.
“From November to spring, every evening. Boza likes the cold.”
Sokağa gireceğiniz zaman ne yapıyorsunuz?
What do you do when you’re about to turn into a street?
— Sokağın başında dururum ve bağırırım: “Bozaaa!”
“I stop at the top of the street and call out: ‘Bozaaa!’”
Ama bazen bağırmaya gerek yok.
“But sometimes there’s no need to call.”
Tam “Bozaaa!” diyeceğim sırada bir pencere açılır, bir sepet iner.
“Just as I’m about to call ‘Bozaaa!’, a window opens and a basket comes down.”
En eski müşteriniz kim?
Who’s your oldest customer?
— Üç numaranın sepeti. Otuz yıldır her akşam saat dokuzda cumbadan iner.
“The basket at number 3. For thirty years it’s come down from the cumba at nine every evening.”
İçinde hep iki bardağın parası var: biri Sabiha Hanım’ın, biri benim.
“There’s always money in it for two glasses: one for Sabiha Hanım, one for me.”
Benimkini sokakta içerim.
“I drink mine right there in the street.”
Bu kış ne oldu?
And what happened this winter?
— Ocakta bir akşam sepet inmedi.
“One evening in January the basket didn’t come down.”
Cumbada bir duyuru vardı: “Cumba onarılıncaya kadar kullanılmaz.”
“There was a notice on the cumba: ‘Not in use until repaired.’”
Kapının önünde, karda, uzun boylu genç bir adam vardı.
“By the door, in the snow, stood a tall young man.”
Elinde para vardı.
“He had the money in his hand.”
“Sabiha Hanım’ın sepeti bu akşam benim” dedi.
“‘Tonight I’m Sabiha Hanım’s basket,’ he said.”
Cumba onarılana kadar her akşam geldi.
“He came every evening until the cumba was repaired.”
Sabiha Hanım’ın bozasını kapıya kadar o götürdü, benimkini ben sokakta içtim.
“He took Sabiha Hanım’s boza to her door, and I drank mine in the street.”
Ya şimdi?
And now?
— Geçen pazartesi cumba yine açıldı.
“Last Monday the cumba opened again.”
Saat dokuzda sepet indi.
“At nine the basket came down.”
İçinde üç bardağın parası vardı.
“In it was money for three glasses.”
Sordum: “Üçüncüsü kimin?”
“I asked: ‘Whose is the third?’”
Cumbadan cevap geldi: “Tolga Bey’in.”
“The answer came down from the cumba: ‘Tolga Bey’s.’”
Artık o da her akşam burada.
“Now he’s here every evening too.”
Bahar gelene kadar.
“Until spring comes.”
gireceğiniz zaman and diyeceğim sırada are “when you’re about to” and “just as I’m about to”. diyeceğim is demek: before a y its e turns into i, as in diyor. onarılıncaya kadar, onarılana kadar and gelene kadar are all “until”. kapıya kadar is “right to the door”: kadar with a distance, from Course 1 Lesson 11. benimkini is “mine”, Course 1 Lesson 13’s benimki.
1When does Hayri Bey sell boza?
2What was on the cumba one evening in January?
3Whose is the third glass?
9The lesson’s new words
These are the words the lesson brought in for the first time, in the order you met them. Forms with -ana kadar, -ıncaya kadar and -acağı sırada aren’t here: you can build those yourself from verbs you know.
New words
- karsnow
- dekuntil, up to (same as kadar)
- bozaboza, a thick winter drink made from grain
- bozacıboza seller
- leblebiroasted chickpeas
- tarçıncinnamon
- gıcırdamakto creak
- indirmekto let down, to lower
- uzun boylutall (of a person)
- götürmekto take (somewhere), to carry
10Say it yourself
Out loud first, then the answer. The first three need “until”, the next two “just as… about to” and “when… about to”, and the last one Course 1 Lesson 24’s “before”. Getting it wrong and then checking is exactly what this is for.
we waited until the rain stopped
Yağmur durana kadar bekledik.
wait here until your name is called
Adınız okunana kadar burada bekleyin.
nobody lives in the house until the roof is repaired
Çatı tamir edilinceye kadar evde kimse oturmaz.
just as we were about to start, Zehra Hanım came in
Tam başlayacağımız sırada Zehra Hanım geldi.
let me know when you’re about to leave
Gideceğiniz zaman bana haber verin.
knock before you go in
Girmeden önce kapıyı çalın.
11Check 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: “We’re staying in until the snow stops.”
Kar ? kadar evdeyiz.
3What’s the -ıncaya kadar form of dönmek?
4How do you say “I read until the guests arrived”?
5Fill in the right word: “Just as we were about to start, Zehra Hanım came in.”
Tam ? sırada Zehra Hanım geldi.
6Geleceğim zaman sana yazarım means…
12Homework
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.
- Out loud, by harmony: gel, bit, dur, dön, oku, bekle — each with -ana kadar and with -ıncaya kadar.
- Out loud, one scene in every person: Tam başlayacağım sırada…, Tam başlayacağın sırada… — and on to onlar. Each time, let something get in the way.
- Your own “until” rules, five or six sentences: Kahvemi içene kadar kimseyle konuşmam…
- A short piece, “Just as I was about to…”: three or four times something got in your way, with -acağım sırada and -acakken.
- A note for your neighbours, like the notice on the cumba: what can’t be done while the repairs go on, with -ıncaya kadar and last lesson’s passive: Asansör onarılıncaya kadar kullanılmaz…