Havaalanına vardığımda uçuşumu kontrol ettim.

I checked my flight when I arrived at the airport.

Breakdown of Havaalanına vardığımda uçuşumu kontrol ettim.

• benim: my
• kontrol etmek: to check
• uçuş: the flight
• -dığında: when
• havaalanı: the airport
• varmak: to arrive

Questions & Answers about Havaalanına vardığımda uçuşumu kontrol ettim.

What is the function of -a in havaalanına, and why do we use it here?

-a is the dative case suffix in Turkish. It indicates direction “to” something. So havaalanına literally means “to the airport.” We need it because the verb varmak (to arrive) always takes a dative object: you arrive to somewhere.

Why is it vardığımda instead of simply vardım or vardımda?

We need a temporal clause “when I arrived.” To build that, Turkish uses:

1. Verb root: var- (arrive)
2. Past tense marker: -dı- → vardı- (arrived)
3. Nominalizer + person: -ğım → vardığım (“my arriving”)
4. Time conjunction suffix: -da (“when”)
   → vardığımda = “when I arrived.”
   Just vardım = “I arrived,” which can’t link to the next action without a connector.

Can I replace vardığımda with vardıktan sonra or gelince? Any difference?

Yes:

• vardıktan sonra = “after I arrived” (emphasizes sequence)
• gelince = “when I come/arrive” (more colloquial; from gel-)
  All are correct, but:
  • vardığımda stresses “at the moment I arrived.”
  • vardıktan sonra stresses “after having arrived.”
  • gelince is simpler, common in speech.

Why is uçuşumu in the accusative case, and what does the -um in the middle mean?

uçuşumu breaks down as:

• uçuş = flight
• -um = 1st person singular possessive (“my flight”)
• -u = accusative case marker (definite direct object)
  So uçuşumu = “my flight” as a specific, known object that was checked.

Could you show the step-by-step formation of uçuşumu?

1. Start with uçuş (flight)
2. Add possessive: uçuş+um = “my flight”
3. Add accusative: uçuş+um+u = “my flight” (as the object)
   Result: uçuşumu

Why do we say kontrol ettim instead of a single verb?

kontrol is a noun (from French). To turn it into “to check,” Turkish uses the light-verb etmek (to do). Together:
• kontrol (check) + etmek (to do) = kontrol etmek (to check)
Then we inflect etmek in past tense, 1st person: et-ti-m → ettim.
Hence kontrol ettim = “I checked.”

Can I say kontrol yaptım instead of kontrol ettim?

Yes. yapmak also means “to do/make.” So kontrol yapmak = “to do a check.”

• kontrol yaptım = “I did a check.”
• kontrol ettim = “I carried out a check.”
  Both are correct; kontrol ettim is very common, but you’ll hear kontrol yaptım as well.