Breakdown of Eğer toplantıya katılacaksan, lütfen önceden gerekli dokümanları incele.
lütfen
please
eğer
if
toplantı
the meeting
-ya
to
katılmak
to attend
gerekli
necessary
incelemek
to review
önceden
beforehand
doküman
the document
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Questions & Answers about Eğer toplantıya katılacaksan, lütfen önceden gerekli dokümanları incele.
Why is Eğer placed at the beginning of the sentence?
Eğer means “if” and introduces a conditional clause. In Turkish, you normally put the condition first and separate it from the main clause with a comma.
How do you form katılacaksan, and what does each part mean?
Breakdown of katılacaksan:
- katıl (root, “join/attend”)
- acak (future-tense marker)
- sın (2nd person singular ending)
- -sa (conditional suffix, “if”)
Due to vowel harmony and ease of pronunciation, katılacaksın + sa becomes katılacaksan. Altogether it means “if you will attend.”
Why is toplantıya in the dative case?
The verb katılmak (“to attend/join”) requires its object in the dative case (i.e. “to/for” something). So toplantı (“meeting”) takes -ya and becomes toplantıya: “to the meeting.”
Why is there no explicit pronoun like sen in katılacaksan?
Turkish is a pro-drop language: the subject pronoun is usually omitted because the verb ending (-san) already marks 2nd person singular (“you”).
Why does dokümanları have the -ı suffix?
-ı is the accusative case marker for a definite direct object. Here you’re referring to specific “necessary documents,” so you use doküman + -lar (plural) + -ı (accusative) = dokümanları.
What does gerekli mean and why is it used before dokümanları?
Gerekli means “necessary” or “required.” It’s an adjective modifying dokümanları, so gerekli dokümanları means “the necessary documents.”
What’s the difference between önce and önceden?
- önce is an indeclinable adverb meaning “before.”
- önceden is önce
- the ablative -den, literally “from before,” and means “in advance” or “ahead of time.”
Why is the verb incele used (singular imperative) instead of inceleyin?
incele is the 2nd person singular imperative (“examine!”). With lütfen (“please”), a singular imperative can still be polite. inceleyin would be the 2nd person plural/formal imperative, used if you’re addressing multiple people or want more formality.
Why is there a comma after katılacaksan?
In Turkish, subordinate clauses (like conditionals introduced by eğer) are separated from the main clause by a comma. The comma makes the sentence easier to parse.