Learn Hardcore Turkish: Sana mesaj atmadan önce cümlelerimi iki kez okuyorum. - Before texting you, I read my sentences twice.

“Sen” is the subject pronoun “you” (informal, singular).
“Sana” is “to you / for you” (informal, singular), the dative form of sen.

In Turkish, many verbs take a specific case. The idiom “mesaj atmak” (to send a message) normally takes the dative:

Sana mesaj atıyorum. – I’m sending (a) message to you.
Ona mesaj attım. – I sent a message to him/her.
Onlara mesaj atacağız. – We will send a message to them.

So “sana” is required by the verb phrase “mesaj atmak”, not “sen”.

Could I say “senin mesaj atmadan önce…” instead of “sana mesaj atmadan önce…”?

No, that would be incorrect in this context.

Senin = “your” (possessive), used before a noun:
- senin mesajın – your message
- senin telefonun – your phone

In “sana mesaj atmak”, the verb atmak needs a dative object (to whom you send the message), not a possessive. So you must use sana (“to you”), not senin (“your”).

What exactly does “mesaj atmak” mean? Why use the verb “atmak” (“to throw”)?

Literally, “atmak” means “to throw”, but in modern Turkish it is also used in several idiomatic meanings. One of them is “to send (a text/message)”.

So:

mesaj atmak ≈ “to send a message / to text (someone)”
mail atmak ≈ “to send an email”
bana mesaj at – text me

You could also say “mesaj göndermek”, which is slightly more neutral/formal:

Sana mesaj göndermeden önce… – Before sending you a message…

But “mesaj atmak” is very common and sounds natural in everyday spoken Turkish.

How is “atmadan önce” formed, and what does the ending “-madan önce” mean?

“Atmadan önce” comes from the verb atmak (“to throw / to send a message (informally)”).

Breakdown:

at- – verb root
-ma- – verbal noun/negative base
-dan – ablative ending (from / before doing / without doing)
önce – “before”

The pattern is:

VERB + -madan / -meden + önce → “before doing VERB”

Examples:

yemeden önce – before eating
uyanmeden önce – before waking up
gitmeden önce – before going

So “atmadan önce” means “before sending / before I send” (a message).

Is “-madan” here negative? Does “atmadan önce” mean “before not sending”?

In form, -madan / -meden comes from the negative verbal noun plus ablative (“without doing X”).
In practice, with “önce”, it’s understood as “before doing X”, not as a pure “without doing X”.

So:

Mesaj atmadan önce…
→ understood as “Before sending a message…”
Mesaj atmadan uyudum.
→ “I slept without sending a message.”

Context tells you whether the focus is time (“before doing”) or non-occurrence (“without doing”).
With “önce”, the time meaning is dominant: “before sending”.

How is “cümlelerimi” built, and what does each part mean?

Breakdown of “cümlelerimi”:

cümle – sentence
-ler – plural: cümleler = sentences
-im – my: cümlelerim = my sentences
-i – accusative: cümlelerimi = my sentences (as a specific direct object)

So “cümlelerimi” = “my sentences” as a specific object of the verb “okuyorum” (“I am reading”).

Why is “cümlelerimi” in the accusative case? Could it just be “cümlelerim”?

In Turkish, when a direct object is specific/definite, it takes the accusative ending:

(Ben) cümlelerimi okuyorum. – I am reading my sentences (the specific ones I have in mind).

If you say:

Cümlelerim okuyorum.

this is ungrammatical; you must choose either:

Cümlelerimi okuyorum. – I’m reading my sentences (definite object)
or
Cümleler okuyorum. – I’m reading sentences (some sentences, non-specific)

Here, you clearly mean the particular sentences you wrote to this person, so you use the accusative: cümlelerimi.

What does “iki kez” mean, and is it different from “iki defa” or “iki kere”?

All three can mean “twice” / “two times”:

iki kez
iki defa
iki kere

Nuances:

kez – a bit more neutral/formal in some contexts.
defa – very common, everyday.
kere – also very common, sounds very colloquial/natural.

In your sentence, you could say any of these:

cümlelerimi iki kez okuyorum
cümlelerimi iki defa okuyorum
cümlelerimi iki kere okuyorum

All are correct and mean the same thing here.

Why is the verb “okuyorum” (present continuous) used, when English uses a habitual sense (“I read my sentences twice before…”)? Could we use “okurum” instead?

Turkish often uses the present continuous (-iyor, here okuyorum) for habits and repeated actions, especially in spoken language:

Her gün kahve içiyorum. – I drink coffee every day.
Sana mesaj atmadan önce cümlelerimi iki kez okuyorum. – I read my sentences twice before texting you.

Grammatically, you can also say:

…cümlelerimi iki kez okurum.

“Okurum” (simple present, aorist) sounds a bit more formal, or like a more timeless rule/principle.
“Okuyorum” is more colloquial and common for describing your usual behavior, so it sounds very natural here.

Why is there no subject pronoun “ben”? Could I say “Ben sana mesaj atmadan önce…”?

In Turkish, the person marker on the verb already shows who the subject is:

okuyor – (he/she/it) is reading
okuyorum – I am reading
okuyorsun – you are reading

So “okuyorum” already means “I am reading”.

You only add “ben” when you want to emphasize the subject:

Ben sana mesaj atmadan önce cümlelerimi iki kez okuyorum.
→ I (as opposed to others) read my sentences twice…

Both versions are correct. The sentence without “ben” is more neutral and typical.

Is the word order fixed? Could I move parts of the sentence around?

Turkish word order is flexible, but the verb normally comes last. All of these are grammatically correct, with slightly different emphasis:

Sana mesaj atmadan önce cümlelerimi iki kez okuyorum.
– Neutral; time clause at the beginning.
Cümlelerimi iki kez okuyorum sana mesaj atmadan önce.
– Emphasis on how often you read your sentences.
Sana, cümlelerimi iki kez, mesaj atmadan önce okuyorum.
– More marked/emphatic, with commas for rhythm.

The original sentence is the most natural and neutral way to say it.

Can “önce” appear in another position, like “cümlelerimi iki kez önce okuyorum”?

No, “önce” belongs with the verb phrase via “-madan / -meden” and/or with a clear time phrase.
The natural structures are:

Sana mesaj atmadan önce… – Before sending you a message…
Önce cümlelerimi iki kez okuyorum, sonra sana mesaj atıyorum. – First I read my sentences twice, then I text you.

But:

cümlelerimi iki kez önce okuyorum

is not natural; “önce” doesn’t just float between objects and adverbs like in English “I read them twice first”. You’d use “önce” at the beginning of the clause or in the “-madan önce” construction.

If I change “sana” to “size”, what changes in meaning?

sana – to you (informal, singular)
size – to you (plural, or formal singular “you”)

So:

Sana mesaj atmadan önce… – Before I text you (one person, informal: a friend, someone close).
Size mesaj atmadan önce… – Before I text you (either several people, or one person you address formally: a stranger, a teacher, someone older, etc.).

Grammar is the same; you just switch to formal or plural “you” with size.