Learn Hardcore Turkish: Çay yoksa bile su içiyorum. - Even if there is no tea, I am drinking water.

yok by itself means “there isn’t / there is no” and is a simple statement of non‑existence:
- Çay yok. = There is no tea.
yoksa adds the conditional meaning “if there is no …”:
- Çay yoksa su içiyorum. = If there is no tea, I drink water.

So:

yok = factual statement
yoksa = conditional “if there is no …”

What does bile add to the meaning?

bile means “even” (in the sense of “even if / even also”).

In Çay yoksa bile su içiyorum:

yoksa bile ≈ “even if there is no …”

Without bile:

Çay yoksa su içiyorum. = If there is no tea, I drink water.

With bile:

Çay yoksa bile su içiyorum. = Even if there is no tea, I (still) drink water.
→ It emphasizes that the lack of tea does not stop you from drinking water.

Is yoksa bile a fixed phrase meaning “even if there is no …”?

Functionally, yes. In practice:

yoksa = if there is no
bile = even

Together, yoksa bile often corresponds to English “even if there is no …”:

Çay yoksa bile su içiyorum.
≈ Even if there is no tea, I drink water.

It is not an unbreakable idiom, but it is a very natural and common combination: [non‑existence] + -sa + bile → “even if there is no …”.

Why is bile after yoksa, not right after çay?

Word order with bile changes the emphasis.

Çay yoksa bile su içiyorum.
- Focus: the condition (there being no tea)
- Meaning: Even if there is no tea, I drink water.
Çay bile yoksa su içiyorum.
- Here bile attaches to çay.
- Meaning: If *even tea does not exist (e.g., nothing is available, not even tea), I drink water.*
- Now “even tea” is emphasized as something you would normally expect to exist.

So:

… yoksa bile … → “even if [this condition] happens”
… bile yoksa … → “if even [this thing] doesn’t exist”

Could I say Çay yok bile instead of Çay yoksa bile?

No, that would change the meaning and grammar:

Çay yok bile.
Sounds like: There isn’t even tea. (i.e., among many missing things, tea is also missing)
It is not a conditional; it is just describing the current situation.
Çay yoksa bile su içiyorum.
Means: Even if there is no tea, I drink water. (conditional “even if …”)

So yok bile = not even there
and yoksa bile = even if it is not there (conditional).

Why is there no subject pronoun ben in the sentence?

Turkish verb endings already show the subject. In içiyorum:

stem: iç- = drink
-iyor- = present continuous
-um = 1st person singular “I”

So içiyorum inherently means “I am drinking / I drink”.
Therefore ben is optional:

Çay yoksa bile su içiyorum. = I drink water even if there is no tea.
Ben, çay yoksa bile su içiyorum.
This is also correct; ben just adds explicit emphasis on I.

Why is the verb içiyorum (present continuous) used instead of içerim (aorist)?

Both are possible, with slightly different nuances:

Çay yoksa bile su içiyorum.
- Present continuous (-iyor)
- Often used both for “right now” and for “typical / regular” actions in everyday speech.
- Can mean: When there’s no tea, I (usually) drink water. or In that situation, I’m (the one who is) drinking water.
Çay yoksa bile su içerim.
- Aorist (-er)
- More clearly expresses habit / general rule:
  Even if there is no tea, I (will) drink water / I (always) drink water.

Spoken Turkish commonly uses -iyor for habits, so içiyorum sounds very natural.

Why is there no word for “a/the” before çay and su?

Turkish has no articles like “a” or “the”. Nouns appear without them:

çay can mean “tea”, “some tea”, “the tea”
su can mean “water”, “some water”, “the water”

Context usually tells you whether English should use a, the, or no article:

Çay yoksa bile su içiyorum.
→ Even if there is no tea, I drink water.
(We understand çay and su in a general sense: tea, water as drinks.)

Why do we use yok here and not değil for negation?

Turkish uses two different negatives:

değil = “not” for adjectives, nouns, pronouns:
- Mutlu değilim. = I am not happy.
- Öğrenci değil. = He/She is not a student.
yok = “there is not / does not exist” (opposite of var = there is):
- Çay yok. = There is no tea.
- Süt yok. = There is no milk.

In Çay yoksa bile su içiyorum, we are talking about the non‑existence of tea, so yok (and therefore yoksa) is correct, not değil.

Can I change the word order to Çay yoksa bile, içiyorum su?

That word order is unnatural. Turkish word order is fairly flexible, but there are strong preferences:

Neutral: Çay yoksa bile su içiyorum.
(Condition first, then what you do.)

You can move elements for emphasis, but the direct object (su) normally comes before the verb (içiyorum):

Çay yoksa bile su içiyorum. (standard)
Su içiyorum, çay yoksa bile. (possible, with emphasis on I drink water first)

İçiyorum su sounds foreign or poetic; in normal speech, keep su before içiyorum.

What is the difference between Çay yoksa su içiyorum and Çay yoksa bile su içiyorum?

Çay yoksa su içiyorum.
= If there is no tea, I drink water.
→ Simple condition and result.
Çay yoksa bile su içiyorum.
= Even if there is no tea, I drink water.
→ Emphasizes that the lack of tea does not stop you from drinking water; you might have expected tea to matter, but it doesn’t.

So bile adds unexpectedness / concession: even in that case.

How does yoksa here differ from yoksa used in questions meaning “or”?

yoksa has two main uses:

Conditional “if there is no …” (as in your sentence)
- Çay yoksa bile su içiyorum.
  → If there is no tea / Even if there is no tea…
“Or / or else” in questions and suggestions:
- Çay mı istiyorsun, yoksa kahve mi?
  = Do you want tea or coffee?
- Çay yok, yoksa kahve mi içsek?
  = There is no tea, or should we drink coffee?

In your sentence, yoksa is clearly the conditional form (yok + sa), not the “or” use inside a choice question. The bile after it also strongly signals the “even if there is no …” reading.