What does -meden mean?

It is the negative converb: it turns a verb into "without doing" that action. söylemeden is "without saying" and görmeden is "without seeing". The negative sense sits inside the ending, so söylemeden gitti is "he left without saying a word".

When is it -meden and when -madan?

It depends on the last vowel of the stem. A front vowel takes -meden, as in görmeden; a back vowel takes -madan, as in okumadan. Only the front-and-back split counts, so these two shapes are the whole story.

How do you say 'before doing something'?

Put the postposition önce after the converb. yemeden önce ellerini yıka is "wash your hands before eating", and yatmadan önce is "before going to bed". Without önce, yatmadan on its own means "without going to bed".

Why is söylememeden wrong?

Because the negative is already inside -meden. söylemeden is "without saying"; negating the stem as well doubles a negation the ending already carries, which gives the non-word söylememeden. The same holds for sormamadan, where the correct form is sormadan.

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Turkish -meden Converb: Without or Before Doing

How the Turkish converb -meden works — the negative "without doing" meaning already built into the ending, the two-way vowel harmony that picks -meden or -madan, the consonant-initial join that needs no buffer, and how the postposition önce turns "without" into "before".

Ekle · September 1, 2026

This converb names an action that did not happen while the main action went on — English "without doing" — and it carries its own negative inside the ending, so the verb needs no separate negative.

Saying without doing

Turkish folds "without saying" into a single word. The suffix -meden attaches to a verb stem and marks an action that did not take place while the main action went on: söylemeden gitti is "he left without saying a word". The negative sense is carried by the ending, so the stem itself stays plain — no second negative is added.

Wherever English reaches for "without doing something", Turkish reaches for this one ending on the verb. sormadan aldı is "she took it without asking", and düşünmeden konuşma is "don't speak without thinking".

Vowel harmony picks the ending

The ending comes in two shapes, and the last vowel of the stem decides which. A front last vowel — e, i, ö, ü — takes -meden; a back last vowel takes -madan. Only the front-and-back split counts, and rounding plays no part, so there are two shapes and not four.

Last vowel	Ending	Worked form
e · i · ö · ü	-meden	görmeden
a · ı · o · u	-madan	okumadan

The ending opens with a consonant, so it lands on the bare stem with no buffer glide and no softening of a final consonant: görmek gives görmeden, and a vowel-final stem like okumak gives okumadan, the two pieces meeting cleanly.

Four worked forms

Read each of these as English "without ...ing" — the action that did not happen alongside the main verb.

Turkish	Parts	English
söylemeden	söyle + meden	without saying
düşünmeden	düşün + meden	without thinking
görmeden	gör + meden	without seeing
sormadan	sor + madan	without asking

One negative, not two

The negative already lives inside -meden. Because the ending means "without doing", söylemeden is complete on its own as "without saying", and the verb stem never takes a negative of its own. A learner who negates the stem as well ends up doubling a negation the ending already carries.

One thing done, another left undone

The plain use names what did not happen while the main action ran. söylemeden gitti is "he left without saying a word", sormadan aldı is "she took it without asking", and görmeden inanmak is "to believe without seeing".

Turkish	Parts	English
söylemeden	söyle + meden	without saying
sormadan	sor + madan	without asking
okumadan	oku + madan	without reading

Before doing something

Follow the converb with the postposition önce and the meaning shifts to "before doing". yemeden önce ellerini yıka is "wash your hands before eating", yatmadan önce is "before going to bed", and gitmeden önce is "before leaving". önce is the postposition covered in the postpositions topic.

Turkish	Parts	English
yemeden	ye + meden	before eating
yatmadan	yat + madan	before going to bed
gitmeden	git + meden	before leaving

Frequently asked questions

What does -meden mean?: It is the negative converb: it turns a verb into "without doing" that action. söylemeden is "without saying" and görmeden is "without seeing". The negative sense sits inside the ending, so söylemeden gitti is "he left without saying a word".
When is it -meden and when -madan?: It depends on the last vowel of the stem. A front vowel takes -meden, as in görmeden; a back vowel takes -madan, as in okumadan. Only the front-and-back split counts, so these two shapes are the whole story.
How do you say 'before doing something'?: Put the postposition önce after the converb. yemeden önce ellerini yıka is "wash your hands before eating", and yatmadan önce is "before going to bed". Without önce, yatmadan on its own means "without going to bed".
Why is söylememeden wrong?: Because the negative is already inside -meden. söylemeden is "without saying"; negating the stem as well doubles a negation the ending already carries, which gives the non-word söylememeden. The same holds for sormamadan, where the correct form is sormadan.