Turkish -ince Suffix: When, As Soon As, Once
How the Turkish converb -(y)ince works — "when, as soon as, once", how it takes full four-way vowel harmony in gelince, olunca and görünce, why a vowel-final stem needs the buffer -y- in okuyunca, how a stem-final consonant softens in gidince, and how its dative plus kadar builds "until".
Ekle ·
This converb marks the moment one event sets off another — "when", "as soon as", "once" — and it takes full four-way vowel harmony from the verb stem it attaches to.
When one thing triggers another
Turkish folds a whole "when" clause into a single word built on the verb. The suffix lands on the stem and pins the main event to the point at which this one happens: gelince is "when one comes", "as soon as one arrives", and eve gelince beni ara is "call me when you get home".
The sense is a trigger, not a stretch of shared time: one thing happens, and at that point the other follows. görünce tanıdım is "I recognised him the moment I saw him" — the seeing is the cue, and what comes next lands right on it.
Four endings, picked by harmony
The ending carries two vowels, and both bend to the stem. The first copies the stem's last vowel across all four classes and the second follows it, so the suffix surfaces as -ınca, -ince, -unca or -ünce. A front unrounded stem gives gelince; a back rounded one gives olunca.
| Last stem vowel | Ending | Worked form |
|---|---|---|
| a · ı | -ınca | bakınca |
| e · i | -ince | gelince |
| o · u | -unca | olunca |
| ö · ü | -ünce | görünce |
All four rows are live here, so this is full four-way harmony rather than the two-way kind a case suffix uses. The rounded classes pull the ending toward -unca and -ünce; the unrounded ones keep it at -ınca and -ince. Read the ending off the stem's final vowel and the shape follows.
A buffer, and a softened stem
The ending opens with a vowel, so the seam has to be managed. A consonant-final stem takes it plainly — gel gives gelince. A vowel-final stem would set two vowels side by side, so a buffer -yunca slides in to keep them apart: oku gives okuyunca.
| Stem | Ending | Result |
|---|---|---|
| gel | -ince | gelince |
| oku | -yunca | okuyunca |
The same vowel-initial seam softens a stem that ends in p ç t k: the final consonant voices to its partner in b c d ğ before the ending goes on. That is why gitmek yields gidince, with the hard stem consonant turned soft.
Four worked forms
Each of these is one verb plus the ending, read as the point that sets the main event going. Notice how the ending changes shape while the meaning stays the same.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| gelince | gel + ince | when one comes, as soon as one arrives |
| görünce | gör + ünce | when one sees, on catching sight |
| olunca | ol + unca | when it happens, once it comes about |
| bakınca | bak + ınca | when one looks, on looking |
When the stem itself changes
These three show the seam at work: the buffer on a vowel-final stem, a stem that already ends in a consonant and needs none, and the softening of a final consonant.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| okuyunca | oku + y + unca | when one reads, after reading |
| duyunca | duy + unca | when one hears, on hearing |
| gidince | gid + ince | when one goes, once one has gone |
A point in time, not a stretch
It is worth holding this converb apart from the one you met for "while". This ending marks the point an event triggers the next, whereas the "while" converb frames an action that is under way alongside another. gelince is "when one comes"; gelirken is "while coming", "on the way".
The pair shows the split cleanly. eve gelince beni ara is "call me when you get home" — the arrival is the cue. eve gelirken beni ara is "call me on your way home" — a call during the journey, before it ends.
Marking the moment
The core use is exactly this: the clause names the moment, and the main clause names what happens at it. The converb carries no person of its own — who is acting is read off the main clause. In görünce tanıdım, "I recognised him the moment I saw him", the "I" comes from the second word, not the first.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| gelince | gel + ince | when one comes, as soon as one arrives |
| görünce | gör + ünce | when one sees, the moment one sees |
Saying until
Put the converb in the dative and follow it with kadar and you get "until". gelinceye kadar is "until one comes". sen gelinceye kadar bekleyeceğim is "I will wait until you come". Turkish also allows a doubled negative here, gelmeyinceye kadar, which reads the same "until" rather than its opposite.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| gelinceye | gel + ince + ye | until one comes (with kadar) |
Frequently asked questions
- Which ending is it — -ınca, -ince, -unca or -ünce?
- It follows the stem's last vowel through full four-way harmony. A front unrounded stem takes -ince, giving gelince; a back unrounded one takes -ınca, as in bakınca; a back rounded one takes -unca, as in olunca; and a front rounded one takes -ünce, as in görünce. Read the ending off the final vowel of the verb.
- Why is it okuyunca and not okuunca?
- Because the verb oku ends in a vowel and the ending opens with one, and Turkish does not let two vowels meet at the seam. A buffer -y- slides in, giving okuyunca; the collided okuunca is not Turkish. A consonant-final stem needs no buffer, which is why it is plain gelince.
- What is the difference between gelince and gelirken?
- They frame time differently. gelince marks the point an event triggers the next — "when one comes", "as soon as one arrives". gelirken marks an action in progress — "while coming", "on the way". One is the moment something starts; the other is the span it is under way.
- How do you say 'until' with this converb?
- Put it in the dative and add kadar. gelinceye kadar is "until one comes", and sen gelinceye kadar bekleyeceğim is "I will wait until you come". Turkish also uses a doubled negative for the same sense, gelmeyinceye kadar, which still means "until", not its opposite.