Gece uykuya dalmadan önce alarmı kurarım; sabah annem gerekirse beni uyandırır.

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Breakdown of Gece uykuya dalmadan önce alarmı kurarım; sabah annem gerekirse beni uyandırır.

• beni: me
• önce: before
• sabah: in the morning

Questions & Answers about Gece uykuya dalmadan önce alarmı kurarım; sabah annem gerekirse beni uyandırır.

Which tense is used in kurarım and uyandırır, and what nuance does it add?

They are in the Turkish aorist (geniş zaman), which expresses habits, routines, general truths, or scheduled/typical actions. So the sentence reads as a routine: setting the alarm at night; mom wakes me up in the morning if needed. Using the progressive (kuruyorum / uyandırıyor) would sound like “these days / currently (as an arrangement) I’m setting it / she’s waking me,” not a timeless habit. The future (kuracağım / uyandıracak) would be about a specific future time or plan.

Why is it alarmı (with the accusative -ı)? Could I also say alarm kurarım?

• alarmı kurarım: definite direct object. It implies a specific, known alarm (e.g., the alarm on my phone/clock).
• alarm kurarım: indefinite direct object. It feels like “I set an alarm (some alarm)” and is also fine, especially when you’re speaking generally.

Both are possible; the original chooses definiteness (“the alarm”). In Turkish, definite direct objects take -ı/-i/-u/-ü; indefinite ones are left bare.

Is alarmı ambiguous with “his/her alarm”?

Not here. As an object:

• “the alarm” (definite object) = alarmı
• “his/her alarm” as an object would be = alarmını

Subject position can create ambiguity (e.g., Alarmı çaldı = “His/her alarm rang”). But in your sentence alarmı is clearly the object of kurarım, so it’s “the alarm.”