Turkish Real Conditional -rsa / -rse: the open 'if'
How the Turkish real (open) conditional works — the conditional -se / -sa ending riding an already-tensed verb, the two-way vowel harmony, the aorist gelirse "if he comes" and yağarsa "if it rains", the buffer -y in geliyorsa and gittiyse, and how the open gelirse differs from the bare-stem wish gelse.
Ekle ·
The real conditional presents an 'if' as genuinely possible — 'if it rains, I won't come' — by adding the conditional ending to a verb that already carries a tense.
What the real conditional does
The real conditional rides a verb that is already tensed. Take a finished tense form and add the conditional -se or -sa: the aorist gelir "he comes" becomes gelirse "if he comes". The condition is offered as a genuine possibility, not a daydream.
Because the host is a real tense, the clause reads as open and likely: gelirse leaves it genuinely undecided whether he comes. That open reading is what separates it from the bare-stem gelse "if only he came", the wish form covered on its own.
Building on a tensed verb
One verb takes three tensed hosts, and the conditional ending glues onto each. The aorist gelir gives gelirse, the present continuous geliyor gives geliyorsa, and the past geldi gives geldiyse. The host carries the tense; the ending adds the "if".
| Tensed verb | Conditional ending | If-form |
|---|---|---|
| gelir | -se | gelirse |
| geliyor | -sa | geliyorsa |
| geldi | -yse | geldiyse |
Two things shape the ending. Vowel harmony picks -se after a front vowel and -sa after a back one, so the low suffix vowel has two shapes and not four. After a vowel-final host a buffer -y slides in, giving -yse: geldi plus the ending is geldiyse.
The predictive aorist conditional
The everyday real conditional puts the ending on the aorist, the tense of what generally or predictably happens. gelir "he comes" becomes gelirse "if he comes" — a live prediction, open to going either way. This is the workhorse the topic is named for.
Harmony shapes the ending to the stem. A back-vowel verb pulls -sa: yağmak "to rain" gives yağarsa, and the classic weather clause yağmur yağarsa gelmem means "if it rains, I won't come".
A final consonant may shift under the aorist: gitmek "to go" builds its aorist stem in d, so its conditional is giderse "if he goes", with the t of git read as d before the ending.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| gelirse | gel + ir + se | if he comes |
| yağarsa | yağ + ar + sa | if it rains |
| giderse | gid + er + se | if he goes |
Person endings on the tense stem
The conditional takes the short personal endings, and they come after the conditional ending, riding the tense stem. From gör the full set is görürsem, görürsen, görürse, görürsek, görürseniz and görürseler.
The order carries weight: the ending attaches to the bare tense stem, so the person marker follows the conditional. gör gives görürsem "if I see", never görürümse, which wrongly builds the person into the aorist first.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| görürsem | gör + ür + se + m | if I see |
| görürsen | gör + ür + se + n | if you see |
Five worked forms
Read each of these as a whole "if" clause — the condition is already inside the word, and the host tense colours how real it sounds.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| gelirse | gel + ir + se | if he comes |
| görürsen | gör + ür + se + n | if you see |
| geliyorsa | gel + iyor + sa | if he is actually coming |
| gittiyse | git + ti + yse | if he in fact went |
| olursa | ol + ur + sa | if it happens |
Open condition against wish
The same ending reads two ways depending on its host. On a tensed verb it is an open, likely condition: gelirse "if he comes" leaves the outcome genuinely possible. On a bare stem it turns hypothetical: gelse "if only he came" reaches for something that may not happen.
- gelirse — "if he comes". A real, open condition, built on the tensed aorist.
- gelse — "if only he came". A hypothetical wish, built on the bare stem.
Leading with an optional particle
The clause can open with eğer "if", yet the ending already carries the meaning on its own. gelirse alone is "if he comes"; eğer gelirse says the same thing, with eğer flagging the condition up front.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| gelirse | gel + ir + se | if he comes |
Conditions built on other tenses
The aorist is the usual host, and two other tenses take the ending for a more factual "if". The present continuous geliyorsa means "if he is actually coming", about a situation underway; the past gittiyse means "if he in fact went", about something already done.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| geliyorsa | gel + iyor + sa | if he is actually coming |
| gittiyse | git + ti + yse | if he in fact went |
Frequently asked questions
- What is the real conditional?
- It is an 'if' clause presented as genuinely possible. You add the conditional ending to a verb that already carries a tense, most often the aorist: gelir "he comes" becomes gelirse "if he comes". The outcome is left open, so it reads as a live possibility rather than a wish.
- Why is the aorist the usual host?
- The aorist states what generally or predictably happens, so the aorist plus the conditional gives the everyday predictive 'if': gelir becomes gelirse "if he comes". It is the workhorse behind yağmur yağarsa gelmem "if it rains, I won't come", the pattern that names this topic.
- What is the difference between gelirse and gelse?
- gelirse rides a tensed verb and presents the condition as open and likely — "if he comes", a real possibility. gelse sits on the bare stem and leans hypothetical — "if only he came", reaching for something that may not happen. The host decides which reading you get.
- Do I need eğer for 'if'?
- No. The ending already carries 'if', so gelirse on its own means "if he comes". eğer can open the clause — eğer gelirse — to flag the condition early, and it only announces what the ending is already saying.