Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Conditional sentences 421
27.1.2 THE CONDITIONAL CONJUNCTIONS eğer AND şayet
These two conjunctions, both of Persian origin, are grammatically redundant in Turkish
conditional clauses, but are sometimes added for emphasis, or (particularly at the
beginning of a long and complex sentence containing other subordinate clauses) to signal
at an early point the conditionality of what is being said. Of the two, eğer is much the
more common, and is neutral in terms of the type of conditionality it expresses (like ‘if in
English). It therefore appears in all kinds of conditional clauses, but is extremely rare
with -sA, except where this is affixed with -ydI:
(10) [Eğer çocuk yaşa-sa-ydı] çok iyi bir mimar olacaktı.
live-COND-P.COP
‘[If the boy had lived] he would have been a very good architect.’
In informal styles eğer can occur at the end of its clause:
(11) [Hasan bu mektubu okuduysa eğer], çok kötü olmuştur.
‘[If Hasan has read this letter] he must be feeling terrible.’
The obsolescent şayet is more tentative, meaning something like ‘if by any chance’. It
occurs only with -(y)sA:
(12) [Şayet karşı tarafı düşünebiliyorsanız], Bostancı’da güzel bir ev gördüm
geçen gün.
‘[If by any chance you can contemplate [living on] the other side], I saw a nice
place in Bostancı the other day.’
27.2 PREDICTIVE CONDITIONALS
The predictive type of conditional sentence asserts that if one event takes (or took) place
another will (or would) follow it. The first event is presented as causing or making
possible the second. There are four possible markings for the subordinate clause of a
predictive conditional:
(i) -(y)sA (usually attached to aorist -(A/I)r or -mAz)
(ii) -sA
(iii) -sAydI (-sA+past copula)
(iv) -sAymIş (-sA+evidential copula).
Although there are clear differences in meaning between some of these forms, there are
also areas of overlap. (i) expresses a condition deemed capable of fulfilment, (iii)
expresses a condition known to be incapable of fulfilment, while (ii) and (iv) are
ambiguous in this regard. We shall discuss each form in turn, and the kinds of contexts in
which they occur.