Syntactic and Lexical Units That Express Conditional Except The Morpheme {-sa} in Turkish

When the action in the main clause takes place only when certain conditions are fulfilled, this is called a conditional mood. The suffix given in the grammar books for this mood in Turkish is {–sA}. Some linguists, however, give this morpheme in the mood chapters, while some argue that it must be given in the gerunds chapters. This {–sA} is a common morpheme that is used almost in all Turkic dialects. However, there are some other structures in Turkish that convey the meaning of conditional without using this suffix. One of these is using {verb+DI+personal suffix} twice. The example “Ödevini bugün bitirdin bitirdin, bitirmedin, öğretmen sana çok kızacak” shows that when this structure is used twice it is followed by the negative form and it means “Ödevini bugün bitirmezsen, öğretmen sana çok kızacak.” Another structure is {fiil+Ar+kişi fiil+mAsInA}(dA/ama), which can be used as {fiil+Ar+dI+kişi fiil+mAsInA} (dA/ama) and {fiil+(y)AcAk+kişi fiil+mAsInA} (dA/ama) as well. The example “Ödevi bugün bitiririm bitirmesine de çok işim var” shows that it hasthe same meaning and function as “Çok işim olmasa, ödevi bugün bitiririm”. The transitions or conjunctions aksi takdirde, yoksa, aksi halde, etc. also convey the meaning of conditional. The sentence “Ödevinizi bugün teslim ediniz. Aksi takdirde, dersten kalacaksınız.” gives the same meaning that the sentence “Ödevinizi bugün teslim etmezseniz, dersten kalacaksınız” gives. All in all, the suffix {-sA} is not the only way to make conditional sentences in Turkish. In this paper, I will focus on the structures that have the same meaning and function as {-sA} in Turkish, give examples and suggestions as to the inclusion of these structures in the grammar books.

Keywords

Syntax, Turkish, Conditional Suffix, The Morpheme {–sA}, Syntactic Units, Lexical Units.