Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Conditional sentences 433
‘By now, [even if Ahmet works] he won’t be able to pass the exam.’
The position of the clitic is not always after the word containing the -sA suffix. Where
there is a compound verb form the clitic can be placed between the two components of
this:
(73) [Ömer o zamana kadar üniversiteyi bitirmiş de olsa/bitirmiş olsa da]
Ankara’da bir eve ihtiyacı olabilir.
‘[Even if Öme r has finished university by that time], he may need a flat in
Ankara.’
(74) [Borca girecek bile olsam/girecek olsam bile] o arsayı almaya kararlıyım.
[Even if it means going into debt] I am determined to buy that piece of land.’
It can also be placed after a non-verbal focused constituent (23.3.1):
(75) [Bahçemizi de/bile alsalar] biz buradan çıkmayacağız.
‘[Even if they take away our garden], we’re not going to move from here.’
The distinction of meaning between aorist + -(y)sA and -sA noted in the context of
predictive conditionals is neutralized in concessive conditionals, and the combination of -
(A/I)rsA/-mAzsA with dA or bile is quite rare. Thus -sA dA can even occur in sentences
with habitual meaning:
(76) Banu [toplantılarımıza gelse de] pek bir şey söylemiyor.
‘[Even if Banu comes to our meetings] she doesn’t say much.’
(ii) With olur ‘it will be all right’ as the main clause, the combination of -sA and dA
expresses the possibility or acceptability of an alternative course of action:
(77) [Sen gelmesen de] olur.
‘It’s not essential for you to come.’ (lit. ‘It will be all right [if you don’t come].’)
(78) [Raporu pazartesi de versek] olurmuş.
‘Apparently it will be all right [if we hand the report in on Monday].’ (e.g. as
opposed to today)
(iii) dA can mark each of two alternative conditions in a predictive conditional sentence
(‘whether…or’), indicating that the outcome will be the same whichever of them is
fulfilled (cf. 28.3.2):
(79) Ahmet artık [çalışsa da çalışmasa da] sınavı geçeme z. (cf. (72))
‘By now, [whether Ahmet works or not] he won’t be able to pass the exam.’
(80) [Evde de otursam sokağa da çıksam] hep içimde o acı var.
‘[Whether I sit at home or I go out], there is always that pain inside me.’
27.4.2.2 -(y)sA/ise with dA
A subordinate predicate marked by the conditional copula -(y)sA can be followed by the
clitic dA to produce a concessive clause, equivalent to an English clause introduced by
‘although’. (For the kinds of constituent to which -(y)sA can attach see 27.1.1 (ii).) The
meaning produced by this construction is factual (not conditional). Note, however, that