Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Past tense:
(59) [Para-sı yok-muş-sa] neden ev almaya kalkmış?
money-POSS.3SG non-existent-EV.COP-COND.COP
‘[If (as is claimed) he has no money], why has he taken it into his head to buy a
flat?’
(60) Fasulye [yarım saat piş-ti-yse] ol-muş-tur artık.
beans half hour cook-PF-COND.COP be.done-PF-GM by.now
‘[If the beans have cooked for half an hour], they’ll be done by now.’
(61) [Ali o sırada burada idi-yse] neden ondan yardım istemedin?
here P.COP-COND.COP
‘[If Ali was here then], why didn’t you ask him for help?’
(62) Meryem [[bunu Sevgi’nin yaptığın]-ı bil-iyor-du-ysa] bize
know-IMPF-P.COP-COND.COP
söylemeliydi.
‘[If Meryem knew [it was Sevgi who did this]], she should have told us.’
Future tense (planned or scheduled events):
Conditional sentences 431
(63) [Şükrü g el-me-yecek-se] bir yedek bilet-imiz var demek.
Şükrü come-NEG-FUT-COND.COP one spare ticket-1PL.POSS existent it.means
‘[If Şükrü’s not going to come], that means we’ve got a spare ticket.’
(64) [Uçak 17.00’de kalkıyorsa] 15.00’te havaalanınd a olmam ız lazım.
‘[If the plane is taking off at 17.00], we have to be the airport at 15.00.’
Some knowable conditions do not imply any knowledge on the part of the speaker as to
whether the reality of the situation fulfils the condition. This is particularly the case
where the condition relates to a present-tense situation:
(65) [Vaktiniz varsa] biraz deniz kenarınd a yürüyelim.
‘[If you have time], let’s go for a little walk along the seashore.’
(66) [Ahmet çalışıyorsa] rahatsız edilmek istemez.
‘[If Ahmet’s working], he won’t want to be disturbed.’
This type of knowable condition has the same kind of relation to the situation in the main
clause (causing or enabling it) as that which is found in predictive conditionals.
In most knowable conditions, however, the relation between the two clauses is
different, and much freer. The conditional clause expresses some information that the
speaker has newly acquired, either from another participant in the conversation or from
some other source within the shared situation of the speech participants. Such a condition
is more or less known to be fulfilled. It is presented as a working assumption, and as the
background to what the speaker says in the main clause. Certain kinds of utterance occur
frequently in the main clause of a knowable condition: an inference, as in (57), (60), (63);
a suggestion, request, or other volitional utterance, as in (58), (65); an expression of
obligation, as in (62), (64); or a question, as in (59), (61). Questions following conditions
that are presented as working assumptions are usually, as in these examples, reproachful
in tone, pointing to an incongruity between the situation assumed in the conditional
clause and some observed behaviour or action.