Learn Hardcore Turkish: Güneş doğar doğmaz köpek bahçede koşuyor. - The dog runs in the garden as soon as the sun rises.

The pattern Verb(aorist) + Verb(aorist‐negative) (e.g. gelir gelmez, yapar yapmaz, doğar doğmaz) creates an inseparable time clause meaning “as soon as”. So güneş doğar doğmaz literally pairs doğar (the aorist of doğmak, “to rise”) with doğmaz (its negative aorist) to say “as soon as the sun rises.”

Can I use güneş doğunca instead of güneş doğar doğmaz? Are they the same?

Both mean “when/as soon as the sun rises,” but they differ slightly in nuance and formality.

güneş doğunca uses the suffix -incе/unca (“when/after”) and is very common in speech.
güneş doğar doğmaz (aorist + aorist‐negative) often stresses immediacy more strongly and can sound a bit more formal or dramatic.

How is the present continuous tense formed in Turkish, as seen in koşuyor?

Present continuous = root + -iyor/uyor/ıyor/üyor (progressive suffix) + person Ending.

koş (root of koşmak, “to run”)
-uyor (progressive suffix with vowel harmony)
Ø (zero ending for 3rd person singular)
Put together: koş+uyor = koşuyor (“(he/she/it) is running”).

Does koşuyor here express a habitual action or something happening right at that moment?

Turkish present continuous usually describes an action right now, but it can also indicate a habitual or repeated event, depending on context.

Habitual: “Every morning, as soon as the sun rises, the dog runs in the garden.”
Immediate: “This morning, as soon as the sun rose, the dog is (still) running in the garden.”
You need context to decide which.

What case is bahçede, and why is it used here?

bahçe = “garden.” The suffix -de is the locative case, meaning “in/on/at.”

bahçede = “in the garden.”
Locative suffix: -de after vowels or voiced consonants, -te after voiceless consonants (by consonant harmony/assimilation).

Why is there no article like “a” or “the” before köpek in Turkish?

Turkish has no indefinite article. A bare noun can be indefinite (“a dog”). Definite meaning (“the dog”) is often clear from context or by using the accusative case (e.g. köpeği).

Why is köpek not marked with a case ending here?

As the subject of the sentence, köpek is in the nominative, which has no suffix. Subjects normally appear unmarked (unless you explicitly want to emphasize or clarify them).

Where would you put a comma in this sentence if you wanted to punctuate it?

A comma is typically placed after the time clause:
Güneş doğar doğmaz, köpek bahçede koşuyor.
In Turkish, that comma is common but not strictly required in everyday writing.

Why doesn’t the sentence include a conjunction like “ve” between güneş doğar and doğmaz?

No conjunction is needed because doğar doğmaz itself is a fixed temporal construction. The two verbs directly combine to express “as soon as”.

Can I emphasize the dog by adding o or şu before köpek?

Yes. If you want to specify or emphasize, you can say:

O köpek bahçede koşuyor. (“That dog is running in the garden.”)
Şu köpek bahçede koşuyor. (“This/that particular dog is running in the garden.”)
In the original sentence, subject demonstratives/pronouns are omitted because they’re understood.

Could you rephrase this sentence using a different time expression, like güneş doğduğu anda?

Yes. You can say:
Güneş doğduğu anda köpek bahçede koşuyor.
Here doğduğu is the past‐participle form of doğmak plus -uğu, and anda means “moment.” This means “At the moment the sun rises, the dog is running in the garden.” It’s equivalent in meaning but uses a participial clause instead of the -ar…-maz construction.