Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Conditional sentences 423
When an open conditional construction occurs in the course of a narrative, reflecting a
situation that was in the future at that particular point in the story, the past copula -(y)DI
is added to the main clause (but not to the conditional clause):
(18) Hüseyin zor durumdaydı. [Amerika’ya giderse] Jale onunla gitmeyebilirdi.
‘Hüseyin found himself in a difficult situation. [If he went to America], Jale might
not go with him.’
27.2.1.2 Generic and habitual conditionals
(i) Generic conditionals:
Generic statements concern the characteristic qualities or behaviour of a class of
entities, and are regularly expressed with the aorist (21.4.1.1). In conditional sentences
there can be ambiguity between a generic and an open predictive reading. In the example
below, kedi ‘cat’ and köpek ‘dog’ are understood generically (see 22.4.1.1) in (i), whereas
in (ii) they are understood as referring to a specific cat and dog.
(19) [Kedi-yle köpek bir arada büyüt-ül-ür-ler-se] d övüş-mez-ler.
cat-CONJ dog together bring.up-PASS-AOR-3PL-COND.COP fight-NEG.AOR-
3PL
(i) ‘[If a cat and a dog are brought up together] they don’t fight.’ (Generic)
(ii) ‘[If the cat and the dog are brought up together] they won’t fight’ (Open)
(ii) Habitual conditionals:
While generics generalize about the behaviour or qualities of a whole class, habituals
generalize about the behaviour or qualities of specific entities or groups. Non-past
habituals usually have -(I)yor in the main clause (21.3.2), which entirely disambiguates
them from open predictive conditionals:
(20) [Ahmet evliliklerinin yıldönümünü unutursa] Şebnem çok kızıyor.
‘Şebnem goes in to a temper [if Ahmet forgets their wedding anniversary].’
(21) [Vaktim olursa] okula kadar yürüyorum.
‘[If I have time] I walk to school.’
Where a habitual conditional sentence has past time reference, the main clause receives
past tense marking, whereas the conditional clause does not:
(22) Padişah [bir vezirinden memnun kalmazsa] onu idam et-tir-ir-di.
execution AUX-CAUS-AOR-P.COP
‘[If the sultan was not pleased with one of his viziers], he would have him
executed.’
(23) [Sınavdaki puan ortalaması düşük çıkarsa] bir ayarlama yap-ıl-abil-iyor-du.
make-PASS-PSB-IMPF-P.COP
‘[If the average mark in the exam turned out low], an adjustment could be made.’