The converb -CAsInA builds a manner-comparison adverbial meaning "as if / as though (one were) X-ing". Ağlarcasına anlattı — "she told it as if (she were) crying". Where English needs a whole subordinate clause — "as if she were crying", complete with a subject and a verb — Turkish compresses the entire comparison onto a single suffixed verb. It is a compact, expressive, somewhat (literary) device, and recognising it is a clear marker of advanced reading: the -cesine / -casına ending is the signal that the writer is painting how something was done by likening it to an imagined action.
What -CAsInA does
-CAsInA attaches to a tense stem (usually the aorist -Ar or the perfect -mIş) and turns the whole thing into an adverb of manner: "in a manner as if X". It does not assert that X is true; it likens the real action to the imagined one. The result modifies the main verb the way a manner adverb does — answering "how?" — but with the added "as if" flavour of an unreal comparison.
Beni yıllardır tanırcasına gülümsedi.
He smiled at me as if he had known me for years.
Her şeyi bilircesine konuşuyordu.
He was talking as if he knew everything.
Çocuk, dünyayı yeni keşfetmişçesine etrafına bakındı.
The child looked around as if he had just discovered the world.
In bilircesine konuşuyordu, the speaker does not claim the person actually knew everything — only that he spoke in the manner of someone who did. That gap between the real action (talking) and the imagined one (knowing everything) is the whole point of -CAsInA: it is a simile folded into the verb.
The form: -CA + -sInA, and where the stress falls
-CAsInA decomposes into the equative/adverbial -CA plus a third-person possessive -sI plus the dative -nA — historically "in its X-ness-like manner". Two consequences for spelling and sound:
- The initial C alternates c / ç by the consonant-devoicing rule: after a voiceless consonant it is ç (bakmış*çasına), elsewhere *c (*gelircesine*).
- The whole suffix harmonises front/back: -casına after a back-vowel stem, -cesine after a front-vowel stem.
| Stem ends in | Suffix | Example |
|---|---|---|
| voiced/vowel, back | -casına | ağlar-casına (as if crying) |
| voiced/vowel, front | -cesine | bilir-cesine (as if knowing) |
| voiceless, back | -çasına | bakmış-çasına (as if having looked) |
| voiceless, front | -çesine | görmüş-çesine (as if having seen) |
A point of pronunciation that trips up advanced learners: -CA is a pre-stressing suffix. The stress falls on the syllable immediately before -CA, not on the suffix and not at the word's end where Turkish stress usually sits. So it is bi-LİR-cesine, ağ-LAR-casına — the beat lands on the tense stem, then the long -CAsInA tail trails off unstressed. This pre-stressing is inherited from -CA and is part of what gives the form its distinctive, slightly emphatic cadence.
-CAsInA on the aorist: "as if (habitually) X-ing"
On the aorist stem (-Ar / -Ir), -CAsInA likens the manner to a general, characteristic, or ongoing action: "as if one (regularly/typically) does X".
Sırrını paylaşırcasına fısıldadı.
She whispered as if sharing a secret.
Adam, beni azarlarcasına baktı.
The man looked at me as if scolding me.
Onu kaybetmekten korkarcasına sıkıca tuttu elini.
He held her hand tightly, as if afraid of losing her.
The negative aorist -mAz combines too: anlamazcasına "as if not understanding", duymazcasına "as if not hearing / pretending not to hear". This negative form is especially common for feigned ignorance.
Sorumu duymazcasına başını çevirdi.
He turned his head away as if he hadn't heard my question.
-CAsInA on -mIş: "as if having (already) X-ed"
On the -mIş perfect stem, -CAsInA likens the manner to a completed action: "as if one had (already) done X". This is the form for "as if he'd seen a ghost", "as if she'd known all along".
Hayalet görmüşçesine sapsarı kesildi.
He went pale as if he'd seen a ghost.
Yıllardır bu anı bekliyormuşçasına gözleri parladı.
Her eyes lit up as if she had been waiting for this moment for years.
Hiçbir şey olmamışçasına gülümsedi ve oturdu.
He smiled as if nothing had happened and sat down.
Hiçbir şey olmamışçasına ("as if nothing had happened") is a set, instantly recognisable collocation — the perfect -mIş carries the "already completed and now disavowed" sense that makes the pretence vivid. Note olmamışçasına: the ç (not c) appears because the negative -ma- plus -mIş ends in the voiceless ş.
-CAsInA vs gibi + clause: the compact vs the analytic "as if"
English speakers reliably reach for gibi ("like / as") plus a clause to translate "as if", because gibi is the everyday word for "like". That construction exists and is correct — sanki … -mIş gibi — but it is the analytic, multi-word route. -CAsInA is the synthetic, single-word route, and it is more compact, more literary, and more elegant.
Bizi tanıyormuş gibi davrandı.
He acted as if he knew us. (analytic: sanki … -mIş gibi)
Bizi tanırcasına davrandı.
He acted as if he knew us. (synthetic: -CAsInA, tighter and more literary)
Both are grammatical. The differences:
- gibi + clause (often with sanki up front) is the neutral, conversational "as if". Use it freely in speech.
- -CAsInA is (literary) / elevated — favoured in narrative prose, description, and writing that wants compression and rhythm. It reads as more crafted.
For the everyday gibi comparison in all its uses, see gibi and kadar; for the literary register that favours -CAsInA, see the literary register. The point at C1 is to recognise -CAsInA in reading and to deploy it deliberately for stylistic effect, not to replace gibi everywhere.
A related sense: "to the extent that / so much that"
On some stems, especially with ölmek and intensity verbs, -CAsInA drifts from "as if" toward "to the point of / so much as to" — a degree reading. Ölürcesine literally "as if dying", idiomatically "to death / desperately".
Onu ölürcesine seviyordu.
He loved her to death (desperately, as if it would kill him).
Çıldırırcasına çalıştı sınavdan önce.
He studied like a madman (to the point of madness) before the exam.
This degree sense grows naturally out of the "as if" core: "as if dying (from it)" becomes a way of saying "to an extreme degree". Treat it as the same suffix pushed to its expressive limit.
Common mistakes
Reaching for gibi + clause where the polished single-word -CAsInA is wanted (acceptable, but misses the register):
❌ Ağlıyormuş gibi anlattı, edebî bir metinde.
Not wrong, but flat for literary prose; the elegant form is the converb → ağlarcasına anlattı.
✅ Ağlarcasına anlattı.
She told it as if crying.
Building -CAsInA on a bare stem instead of a tense stem:
❌ Bilcesine konuştu.
Wrong: -CAsInA stacks on a TENSE stem (aorist/mIş), not the bare verb → bilircesine (on the aorist bilir).
✅ Bilircesine konuştu.
He spoke as if he knew.
Failing the c/ç devoicing after a voiceless consonant:
❌ Görmüşcesine baktı.
Wrong: after the voiceless ş the C devoices to ç → görmüşçesine.
✅ Görmüşçesine baktı.
He looked as if he had seen (it before).
Choosing the wrong front/back form:
❌ Bilircasına konuştu.
Wrong: the front-vowel stem bilir- takes -cesine → bilircesine.
✅ Bilircesine konuştu.
He spoke as if he knew.
Treating the embedded action as asserted/real:
❌ Her şeyi bilircesine = 'he knew everything'.
Wrong reading: -CAsInA is 'AS IF he knew', an imagined comparison — it does not claim he actually knew.
✅ Her şeyi bilircesine konuştu — ama aslında bilmiyordu.
He spoke as if he knew everything — but in fact he didn't.
Key takeaways
- -CAsInA builds a compact "as if (one were) X-ing" manner adverbial — a simile folded into the verb — and never asserts the embedded action is real.
- It stacks on a tense stem, chiefly the aorist (bilircesine "as if knowing") and the -mIş perfect (görmüşçesine "as if having seen").
- It is -CA + -sInA: the C devoices to ç after a voiceless sound (görmüşçesine), it harmonises -casına / -cesine, and it is pre-stressing (bi-LİR-cesine).
- The everyday equivalent is sanki … -mIş gibi (analytic, conversational); -CAsInA is the (literary), single-word version — recognise it in prose and use it for stylistic compression.
- Pushed to its limit it yields a degree reading — ölürcesine sevmek "to love to death".
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- The Converb -(y)ArAk ('by / while doing')B1 — How -(y)ArAk marks the manner or means of a same-subject action — answering 'how?' rather than sequencing events like -(y)Ip.
- gibi and kadar: Similarity and ExtentB1 — gibi means 'like / as if' and kadar means 'as…as / about / until' — and kadar quietly switches from genitive comparison to dative 'until' depending on what you mean.
- Literary and Poetic StyleC1 — How written and poetic Turkish exploits inverted word order, aspectual auxiliaries, archaic vocabulary, dense converb chains and ellipsis for rhythm and effect.
- The -CA AdverbializerB1 — The multifunctional Turkish suffix -CA — manner adverbs (açıkça), '-ish/approximately', languages (Türkçe), and the 'in my opinion' set (bence) — and why it's pre-stressing.