Toplantı odası boşken orada sessizce çalışıyoruz.

While the meeting room is empty, we work there quietly.

Breakdown of Toplantı odası boşken orada sessizce çalışıyoruz.

• çalışmak: to work
• orada: there
• sessizce: quietly
• -ken: while
• boş: empty
• toplantı odası: the meeting room

Questions & Answers about Toplantı odası boşken orada sessizce çalışıyoruz.

What does boşken mean exactly, and how is it formed?

Boşken comes from the adjective boş (empty) plus the suffix -ken, which roughly means while / when.

So:

• boş = empty
• boşken = while (it is) empty / when (it is) empty

In the sentence Toplantı odası boşken orada sessizce çalışıyoruz, the idea is:

• Toplantı odası boşken = When the meeting room is empty / While the meeting room is empty
• orada sessizce çalışıyoruz = we work there quietly

So altogether: We work there quietly when the meeting room is empty.

Is there any difference between boşken and boş olduğunda or boş olduğu zaman?

They are very close in meaning, and in most everyday contexts you can use them interchangeably.

• Toplantı odası boşken orada sessizce çalışıyoruz.
• Toplantı odası boş olduğunda orada sessizce çalışıyoruz.
• Toplantı odası boş olduğu zaman orada sessizce çalışıyoruz.

All can be understood as: We work there quietly when the meeting room is empty.

Nuances:

• boşken is shorter, more colloquial, and very common in speech.
• boş olduğunda is a bit more explicit (literally: when it is empty) and can sound slightly more formal or careful.
• boş olduğu zaman is even more explicit (literally: at the time when it is empty), and can feel a bit heavier, but it’s perfectly normal Turkish.

Functionally, for a learner, you can treat them as equivalent here.

Why is it boşken and not boş iken? Are both correct?

Both boşken and boş iken are grammatically correct.

• iken is the full form.
• -ken is the shortened, attached form, which is much more common in modern speech and writing.

Examples:

• Toplantı odası boş iken orada sessizce çalışıyoruz. ✔ (understood, slightly more formal / old-fashioned)
• Toplantı odası boşken orada sessizce çalışıyoruz. ✔ (the normal, natural version)

In practice, you will almost always hear and read the attached form -ken. Use boşken in everyday Turkish.

Can -ken only attach to adjectives like boş, or can it be used with verbs too?

-ken can attach to:

1. Adjectives / nouns

   • boşken – when it is empty
   • gençken – when (I/you/he) was young
   • öğrenciyken – when (I/you/he) was a student

2. Certain verb forms, especially the simple past or continuous:

   • gelirken – while (someone) is coming / on the way
   • yürürken – while walking
   • yazıyorken – while (I) am writing

So -ken is a general “while / when” suffix, not limited to adjectives.

Why is the subject biz (we) not written? How do we know it means “we”?

In Turkish, subject pronouns are usually dropped, because the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

The verb here is çalışıyoruz:

• çalış-ıyor-uz
  
  • çalış- = work
  • -yor = present continuous
  • -uz = we

So çalışıyoruz = we are working / we work.

You could say Biz çalışıyoruz, but it is only used when you want to emphasize we (for contrast, correction, or emphasis). In a neutral sentence like this, you just say çalışıyoruz and omit biz.

Does çalışıyoruz here mean “we are working (right now)” or “we (generally) work”? Why not use çalışırız?

Both readings are possible, depending on context:

• Right now:
  If we are currently in the meeting room and it is empty, Toplantı odası boşken orada sessizce çalışıyoruz can mean
  We are working there quietly while the meeting room is empty (right now).

• Habitual / repeated action:
  Turkish often uses the present continuous -yor for repeated, regular behavior as well, especially when it feels current and typical. So it can also mean
  We (normally) work there quietly whenever the meeting room is empty.

Why not çalışırız?

• çalışırız (aorist) strongly suggests habit / routine / general truth:
  Toplantı odası boşken orada sessizce çalışırız. = We (as a rule) work there quietly when the room is empty.

Both are possible.

• çalışırız → more clearly habitual, like a rule or custom.
• çalışıyoruz → either current ongoing situation or a “current habit” (what we do these days).

What is sessizce exactly? How is it different from sessiz?

• sessiz = silent, quiet (adjective)
• sessizce = quietly, in a quiet way (adverb)

-ce / -ca is a common suffix that turns adjectives (and some nouns) into adverbs; here it means “in a … way”:

• yavaş → yavaşça = slowly
• dikkatli → dikkatlice (more often: dikkatlice / dikkatlice) = carefully
• sessiz → sessizce = quietly, silently

In practice, Turkish is flexible, and you will also hear:

• orada sessiz çalışıyoruz = we work quietly there

Using sessiz instead of sessizce is also common and natural.
So both sessiz çalışıyoruz and sessizce çalışıyoruz are acceptable; sessizce just highlights the adverbial function a bit more clearly.

What does toplantı odası literally mean, and why does it have -sı?

Toplantı odası is a noun compound, literally “meeting room”.

• toplantı = meeting
• oda = room
• odası = room-of (with a possessive suffix)

In Turkish, many two-noun combinations form a compound like this:

• toplantı odası = meeting room
• yemek odası = dining room
• çalışma odası = study room
• okul müdürü = school principal
• araba kapısı = the car door

The -sı / -si / -su / -sü is a 3rd person possessive suffix indicating “the X of Y” in these compounds.
So toplantı odası is “the room of the meeting”, i.e. the meeting room.

What does orada refer to exactly? Do we really need it?

orada = there (in that place).

In this sentence, orada naturally refers to the meeting room that has just been mentioned:

• Toplantı odası boşken → When the meeting room is empty
• orada sessizce çalışıyoruz → we work there quietly (i.e. in the meeting room)

Do we need orada?

• If the location is clear from the context (for example, if you’re already talking about where you work), you could drop orada:
  
  • Toplantı odası boşken sessizce çalışıyoruz.
    It still makes sense, though it’s a bit less explicit about where.

Using orada makes the spatial reference very clear: the quiet working happens in that place (the meeting room).

Could we say Toplantı odası boşken toplantı odasında sessizce çalışıyoruz, or is that wrong?

Grammatically, it is correct:

• Toplantı odası boşken – when the meeting room is empty
• toplantı odasında sessizce çalışıyoruz – we work quietly in the meeting room

So it literally becomes:

When the meeting room is empty, we work quietly in the meeting room.

However, because toplantı odası is already mentioned, repeating it sounds a bit redundant in natural speech unless you are emphasizing the location for some reason.

More natural options:

• Toplantı odası boşken orada sessizce çalışıyoruz. (original sentence)
• Toplantı odası boşken toplantı odasında değil, koridorda çalışıyoruz.
  (Here, repeating toplantı odasında makes sense because you’re contrasting locations.)

So it’s not wrong, but normally you’d avoid the repetition unless you need emphasis or contrast.

Is the word order fixed, or can we move parts of the sentence around?

Turkish word order is relatively flexible, especially with adverbs and adverbial clauses. All of these are possible and grammatical, with small changes in emphasis:

1. Toplantı odası boşken orada sessizce çalışıyoruz.
2. Toplantı odası boşken sessizce orada çalışıyoruz.
3. Orada sessizce çalışıyoruz toplantı odası boşken. (more written / stylized)

Core rules to remember:

• The finite verb (here çalışıyoruz) usually comes at the end of the sentence.
• Time and place adverbials (like boşken, orada, sessizce) can be moved before the verb for emphasis or style.
• Putting Toplantı odası boşken at the beginning foregrounds the condition: “When the meeting room is empty, we …”

So the original word order is natural and neutral, but the sentence is not rigid; Turkish allows reordering for nuance and emphasis.