Breakdown of Erken yatmazsan sabahı göremezsin.
sabah
the morning
görmek
to see
erken
early
yatmak
to go to bed
-mazsan
if you don’t
-emezsin
you won’t
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Questions & Answers about Erken yatmazsan sabahı göremezsin.
What kind of conditional is yatmazsan, and how is it formed?
yatmazsan breaks down as:
- yat- (root “to go to bed”)
- maz (negative aorist suffix, “does not …”)
- san (2nd-person-singular conditional ending)
Together, yat+maz+san = “if you do not go to bed…” This is the real/first conditional in Turkish, used for situations that are likely or general truths.
Why is göremezsin in the aorist (simple present) tense and not the future tense?
Turkish often uses the aorist to state general truths or real future possibilities.
- göremezsin = gör- (to see) + ‑emez (negative aorist) + ‑sin (2nd-person suffix) → “you cannot see/you won’t see.”
You could say göremeyeceksin (future negative ability), but göremezsin feels more proverbial or like a general rule.
Why is sabahı in the accusative case here?
Turkish marks definite direct objects with the accusative suffix.
- sabah (“morning”) becomes sabahı when it’s a specific morning (“the morning” in question).
Leaving it as sabah (no suffix) would be more indefinite, like “see morning (in general).”
How does vowel harmony decide the form -emez in göremezsin?
In negative aorist, verbs take -emez or -amaz depending on the last vowel of the root:
- If the root vowel is front (e, i, ö, ü), use -emez → gör-emez
- If the root vowel is back (a, ı, o, u), use -amaz → bak-amaz
Since gör has a front vowel, it’s göremez, then plus -sin gives göremezsin.
Where is the subject “you”? I don’t see sen in the sentence.
Turkish is a pro-drop language: the subject can be omitted because it’s encoded in the verb suffix.
- In yatmazsan, -san tells you it’s “you (singular).”
- In göremezsin, -sin also marks “you.”
Adding sen would be redundant unless you want emphasis.
Could I swap the clauses: Sabahı göremezsin, erken yatmazsan?
Yes. Turkish allows flexible clause order. Both are grammatical.
- Original order (condition first) sounds slightly more natural for advice: Erken yatmazsan, sabahı göremezsin.
- Swapped order is fine too, but feels more like “You won’t see the morning—if you don’t go to bed early.”
Can I strengthen it by using an imperative or a different tense?
Absolutely. For example:
- Imperative + future: Erken yat, sabahı görebileceksin. (“Go to bed early, then you’ll be able to see the morning.”)
- Future conditional: Erken yatmazsan sabahı göremeyeceksin. (more explicitly “you will not be able to…”)
The original uses aorist/conditional for a punchy, proverbial feel.