Learn Hardcore Turkish: Soba sönünce, akşamüstü biraz üşüdük. - When the stove went out, we were a bit cold in the late afternoon.

It makes a time clause meaning roughly “when/once/after.” So soba sönünce = “when the stove went out.” It usually implies that the second action follows the first pretty directly.

How is sönünce formed morphologically?

Verb root sön- (to go out, die down) + -ince with vowel harmony → -ünce because the last vowel is front rounded (ö). No buffer -y- is needed because the root ends with a consonant.

Is sönmek different from söndürmek?

Yes. sönmek is intransitive: “to go out” (by itself). söndürmek is transitive: “to put out/extinguish” something.

Soba söndü = “The stove went out.”
Sobayı söndürdük = “We put the stove out.”

Why not use söndüğünde instead of sönünce?

You can. -diğinde/-dığında also means “when/at the time that” and is a bit more neutral or formal. -ince often suggests a tighter trigger or “as soon as” feel. Both are fine here: Soba söndüğünde… vs Soba sönünce…

Could I use -ken (e.g., sönerken) here?

-(y)ken means “while/when (during),” implying overlap. Sönerken = “while it was going out.” If you mean “after it went out,” use -ince or -diğinde, not -ken.

Does sönünce carry its own tense?

No. -ince is non-finite; its time reference comes from context and the main clause. With üşüdük (simple past), sönünce is understood as past relative to that event.

What exactly does akşamüstü mean?

It’s the period in the late afternoon/early evening, roughly between mid-afternoon and evening. It’s often written together (akşamüstü), though akşam üstü also appears. A near-synonym is akşamüzeri.

Does akşamüstü modify the main clause or the “when”-clause?

By default it modifies the main clause (biraz üşüdük). If you want it to modify the “stove going out,” move it into that clause:

Soba akşamüstü sönünce, biraz üşüdük. (The stove went out in the late afternoon, so we got cold.)

Is the comma after sönünce required?

It’s standard and recommended when the subordinate clause comes first: Soba sönünce, … If the main clause comes first, you typically omit it.

What does biraz add here?

Biraz means “a little/a bit.” It softens üşüdük from “we got cold” to “we got a bit cold.” You can move it: Biraz üşüdük (neutral) vs Üşüdük biraz (end-focus on “a bit”).

Why is there no biz for “we”?

Turkish usually drops subject pronouns because person/number are on the verb. -dük indicates first person plural past, so üşüdük already encodes “we.”

Is üşümek the right verb, and how is it different from üşütmek?

Yes. üşümek = “to feel cold” (involuntary). üşütmek can mean “to catch a chill/cold” (intransitive colloquially) or “to make someone/something cold” (transitive). Don’t confuse them: Biraz üşüdük = “We got a bit cold,” not “we caught a cold.”

Could sönünce imply cause as well as time?

Often yes. -ince can be read as “when/once” and, contextually, “since/because.” Here it’s natural to understand a causal link: the stove went out, so we got cold.

Could I make this a habitual statement?

Yes. Use the aorist/present: Soba sönünce akşamüstü biraz üşürüz. = “When the stove goes out, we get a bit cold (as a rule).”

Any difference between akşamüstü and akşamüzeri?

They’re near-synonyms. Some speakers feel akşamüzeri leans more toward “towards evening,” but in most contexts they’re interchangeable.

Is akşamüstünde correct?

It exists but is uncommon in everyday speech for time adverbials. People typically say akşamüstü without a case ending: Akşamüstü geldik (“We came in the late afternoon”).

Why is it üşüdük (with ü) and not something with ı?

Vowel harmony. The root üşü- contains a front rounded vowel (ü), so the past suffix surfaces as -dü- and the 1PL as -k → üşü-dü-k = üşüdük.

Can I add de after sönünce?

Yes, for a light connective/emphasis: Soba sönünce de, akşamüstü biraz üşüdük. It feels like “and (so) when the stove went out…” adding a slight “and then” flavor.