Turkish has two main ways to say "when X happened": the compact converb -(y)IncA, and the more explicit construction built on the -DIK nominalization plus the noun zaman ("time") or the locative case. This page covers the second one. Its great advantage is that it can carry its own subject, so you can say "when you arrive" as easily as "when I arrive" — something the bare converb cannot do.
The core construction: -DIK + possessive + zaman
The building block is the same nominalization you already know from relative clauses. You take a verb stem, add -DIK (harmonizing as -dık / -dik / -duk / -dük, with t after voiceless consonants: -tık / -tik / -tuk / -tük), then a possessive suffix that names the subject, and finally the noun zaman. Literally you are saying "the time of my coming," "the time of your leaving."
Because -DIK ends in k, that k softens to ğ whenever a vowel-initial possessive follows. So geldik + -im becomes geldiğim, not geldikim.
| Subject | Form (gel- "come") | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1sg | geldiğim zaman | when I come / came |
| 2sg | geldiğin zaman | when you come / came |
| 3sg | geldiği zaman | when he/she comes / came |
| 1pl | geldiğimiz zaman | when we come / came |
| 2pl | geldiğiniz zaman | when you (pl) come / came |
| 3pl | geldikleri zaman | when they come / came |
Notice that -DIK itself carries no tense — geldiğim zaman covers both "when I come" and "when I came." The main verb of the sentence supplies the time reference. This is the same tenselessness you see in -DIK relative clauses.
Sınav bittiği zaman seni ararım.
When the exam is over, I'll call you.
Çocukken, kar yağdığı zaman çok mutlu olurdum.
As a child, I used to be very happy when it snowed.
Ben eve geldiğim zaman herkes çoktan uyumuştu.
When I got home, everyone had already gone to sleep.
The locative shortcut: -DIK + possessive + -(n)DA
There is a tighter, more idiomatic variant. Instead of adding the separate word zaman, you attach the locative case directly to the possessed nominalization. Because the possessive already supplies a final vowel, a buffer -n- appears before the locative -DA: geldiği + -n- + -de → geldiğinde.
| Subject | With zaman | With locative |
|---|---|---|
| 1sg | geldiğim zaman | geldiğimde |
| 2sg | geldiğin zaman | geldiğinde |
| 3sg | geldiği zaman | geldiğinde |
| 1pl | geldiğimiz zaman | geldiğimizde |
The 1sg and 3sg differ: geldiğimde ("when I came") versus geldiğinde ("when he came"). The buffer -n- sits between the 3sg possessive -i and the locative, which is exactly what produces geldiğinde. Keep an eye on this pair — it is the most error-prone spot in the whole paradigm.
Çıktığımda hava çoktan kararmıştı.
When I left, it had already gotten dark.
Telefonu açtığında ben de tam o sırada içeri giriyordum.
When you picked up the phone, I was just walking in at that very moment.
İşin bittiği zaman bana haber ver.
Let me know when the work is finished.
Why this exists alongside -(y)IncA
If -(y)IncA already means "when," why bother with this heavier machinery? Because -(y)IncA cannot inflect for a subject. Gelince just means "upon coming" — it borrows its subject from the main clause. That is fine when both clauses share a subject:
Eve gelince hemen yattım.
When I got home I went straight to bed.
Here "I" did both the coming and the going to bed, so gelince is perfect. But the moment the two clauses have different subjects, the converb breaks down. You cannot use gelince to mean "when you come, I will call" — there is nowhere to mark "you." This is precisely where -DIK + possessive shines:
Sen gelince ararım.
(ambiguous) When [I/you?] come, I'll call.
Sen geldiğinde ararım.
When you come, I'll call.
The second sentence is unambiguous: the possessive -in on geldiğinde nails down "you" as the subject of the coming, independently of the main-clause "I." This subject-marking ability is the whole reason the construction earns its keep. For a fuller side-by-side decision guide, see choosing between -(y)IncA and -DIğI zaman.
Specifying a stretch of time: sırada, anda, sonra
The -DIK + possessive nominalization is not limited to zaman. It slots in front of a whole family of temporal nouns, each tightening the meaning:
- sırada ("at the moment / while"): gittiğimiz sırada — "while we were going / at the time we went"
- anda ("the instant"): gördüğüm anda — "the instant I saw"
- sürece ("as long as"): yaşadığım sürece — "as long as I live"
Biz tam evden çıktığımız sırada yağmur başladı.
Just as we were leaving the house, it started to rain.
Onu gördüğüm anda tanıdım.
The instant I saw him, I recognized him.
Sen anlatmadığın sürece kimse gerçeği bilmeyecek.
As long as you don't tell it, nobody will know the truth.
These all rest on the same skeleton: -DIK + possessive names an event, and the following noun (or its case) places you somewhere relative to that event. Master the skeleton once and the whole family comes for free.
A note for English speakers
English builds time clauses with the conjunction "when" plus a fully finite verb: "when I came." Turkish does the opposite — it turns the event into a noun phrase ("the time of my coming") and the subject becomes a possessor, not a nominative subject. There is no separate word for "when" at all; the meaning lives in zaman or the locative ending. This is the same pattern you meet in -DIK relative clauses, so if you can build gördüğüm film ("the film that I saw"), you already have everything you need for gördüğüm zaman ("when I saw").
Common mistakes
❌ Sen gelince ben sana söyleyeceğim önemli bir şey var.
Wrong if the speaker means 'when YOU come' — gelince can't mark a second subject, so the listener may read it as 'when I come'.
✅ Sen geldiğinde sana söyleyeceğim önemli bir şey var.
When you come, there's something important I'll tell you.
❌ geldikim zaman
Wrong — the k of -DIK must soften to ğ before the vowel-initial possessive.
✅ geldiğim zaman
when I came
❌ geldiğimde zaman
Wrong — don't stack the locative and zaman; pick one.
✅ geldiğimde
when I came (locative version, no zaman)
❌ Ben geldiğinde kapıyı açtım.
Wrong — geldiğinde is 3sg ('when he came'); for 'when I came' you need the 1sg possessive.
✅ Ben geldiğimde kapıyı açtım.
When I came, I opened the door.
❌ gittiğimiz sıra başladı.
Wrong — the temporal noun sıra needs the locative here: sırada.
✅ Gittiğimiz sırada yağmur başladı.
While we were going, the rain started.
Key takeaways
- The construction is -DIK + possessive (+ zaman) or -DIK + possessive + locative -(n)DA: geldiğim zaman = geldiğimde = "when I came."
- -DIK is tenseless; the main verb fixes the time. The k softens to ğ before the possessive.
- Its defining strength over -(y)IncA is subject marking: the possessive lets you say "when you come" vs. "when I come."
- Use -(y)IncA when both clauses share a subject and you want brevity; use -DIK + possessive when the subjects differ.
- Watch the 1sg/3sg locative pair: geldiğimde (I) vs. geldiğinde (he/she).
- Swap zaman for sırada, anda, or sürece to sharpen the temporal relation.
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- The Converb -(y)IncA ('when / as soon as')B1 — How -(y)IncA forms the everyday 'when' clause with no tense at all, replacing a finite conjunction-based clause.
- The Object/Factive Participle -DIKB1 — How -DIK plus a possessive suffix relativizes objects and obliques (gördüğüm adam) and nominalizes past/non-future facts in complement clauses.
- -(y)IncA vs -DIğI zaman: 'When'B2 — Both mean 'when', but -(y)IncA is the compact, neutral choice and -DIğI zaman is the one that spells out subject and tense.
- The Locative -DA: At / In / OnA1 — The locative case -DA marks static location (at, in, on) and powers the var/yok possession construction; unlike English at/in, it can never express motion toward a place.