Sen çalışırken seni rahatsız etmek istemiyorum.

I don’t want to disturb you while you are working.

Breakdown of Sen çalışırken seni rahatsız etmek istemiyorum.

• sen: you
• çalışmak: to work
• istemek: to want
• -irken: while
• rahatsız etmek: to disturb

Questions & Answers about Sen çalışırken seni rahatsız etmek istemiyorum.

Why do we have both sen and seni in the same sentence? Isn’t that redundant?

They have different grammatical roles:

• sen = subject form, “you”
• seni = object form (accusative), “you” as the thing being affected

In the sentence:

• Sen çalışırken → “while you are working” (you = subject of “work”)
• seni rahatsız etmek istemiyorum → “I don’t want to disturb you” (you = object of “disturb”)

Turkish uses case endings rather than word order to show who does what. So you can have:

• sen (subject of çalışmak – to work)
• seni (object of rahatsız etmek – to disturb)

It’s not redundant; they belong to two different verbs inside the same sentence.

What does the -ken in çalışırken mean, and how does it work?

-ken is a suffix meaning “while / when (doing something)”.

• çalışmak = to work
• çalışır = (he/she/it) works (aorist stem)
• çalışır + ken → çalışırken = “while (you are) working”

A few key points:

• -ken usually attaches to the aorist stem of the verb (here: çalış-ır)
• The subject is understood from context or from an explicit pronoun:
  
  • Sen çalışırken = while you are working
  • Ben çalışırken = while I am working

So Sen çalışırken… literally means “When you are in the state of working…” or simply “While you’re working…”

Why is it seni rahatsız etmek and not just a single verb like “rahatsızmak”?

Rahatsız etmek is a common verb phrase in Turkish: a noun/adjective + etmek (“to do/make”) working together as one verb meaning “to disturb / to bother”.

• rahatsız (adj.) = uncomfortable, disturbed
• etmek (v.) = to do/make

Together: rahatsız etmek = to cause someone to feel disturbed/uncomfortable → “to disturb”.

Turkish has many such combinations:

• yardım etmek = to help
• tekrar etmek = to repeat
• telefon etmek = to phone
• hazır etmek = to prepare

So rahatsızmak does not exist; the correct verb is rahatsız etmek.

What exactly is the role of etmek in rahatsız etmek?

Etmek turns rahatsız into a verb:

• rahatsız on its own is an adjective: “disturbed / uncomfortable”
• rahatsız + etmek = “to cause (someone) to be disturbed/uncomfortable”

Grammatically, in the sentence:

• seni = object (“you”)
• rahatsız etmek = infinitive verb phrase (“to disturb”)
• Combined: seni rahatsız etmek = “disturbing you / to disturb you”

This whole chunk (seni rahatsız etmek) then becomes the object of istemiyorum (“I don’t want”).

Why is it istemiyorum and not something like istemem?

Both exist, but they differ slightly in aspect and style.

• istemiyorum

  • Present continuous negative of istemek (to want)
  • Literally: “I am not wanting” → idiomatically: “I don’t want (right now / in this situation)”
  • Very common in spoken modern Turkish for current, specific situations.

• istemem

  • Aorist negative of istemek
  • Literally: “I (generally) do not want (to)”
  • Can sound more general, sometimes more formal, or like a rule/preference.

In Sen çalışırken seni rahatsız etmek istemiyorum, the speaker is usually talking about this current or specific situation, so istemiyorum fits naturally: “I don’t want to disturb you (while you’re working).”

Why is seni (object form) used instead of sen?

Because in seni rahatsız etmek, “you” is the object of the action “to disturb”.

• sen = subject form (nominative)
• seni = object form (accusative)

Compare:

• Sen çalışıyorsun. = You are working. (sen = subject of “work”)
• Seni seviyorum. = I love you. (seni = object of “love”)
• Seni rahatsız etmek istemiyorum. = I don’t want to disturb you. (seni = object of “disturb”)

So in this sentence, sen is the subject of çalışırken, and seni is the object of rahatsız etmek.

Can I drop sen and just say Çalışırken seni rahatsız etmek istemiyorum?

Yes, that’s perfectly correct and quite natural.

Turkish often drops subject pronouns when the subject is clear from context or from verb endings. Here:

• çalışırken by itself doesn’t show person, but the context usually makes it clear who is working.
• The “you” is already clear from seni (“you” object).

So:

• Sen çalışırken seni rahatsız etmek istemiyorum.
• Çalışırken seni rahatsız etmek istemiyorum.

Both are correct. The version with sen can add a slight emphasis on “you” (as opposed to someone else).

Could I put seni in another place, like Seni sen çalışırken rahatsız etmek istemiyorum?

You can move seni, but word order affects emphasis and naturalness.

Most natural options:

• Sen çalışırken seni rahatsız etmek istemiyorum.
• Sen çalışırken rahatsız etmek istemiyorum seni. (emphasizes you at the end)
• Çalışırken seni rahatsız etmek istemiyorum.

Seni sen çalışırken rahatsız etmek istemiyorum sounds a bit heavy and repetitive in everyday speech (two sen/seni close together). It’s not ungrammatical, but it’s not the most natural choice unless you are stressing specifically you among others, in a very pointed way.

General rule: in neutral sentences, Turkish likes to put the most important / new information near the end. Here the verb phrase rahatsız etmek istemiyorum naturally tends to come at the end.

What tense or aspect is used in istemiyorum and çalışırken? They don’t look the same.

They are using different mechanisms:

1. istemiyorum

   • iste- (root) + -miyor (negative present continuous) + -um (1st person singular)
   • Literally: “I am not wanting”
   • Function: present or near-future specific desire: “I don’t want (to)…”

2. çalışırken

   • Based on the aorist stem (çalışır-) + -ken (“while/when”)
   • It doesn’t mark tense like English; it marks a time relationship: “while doing X”
   • The actual tense falls out from the main verb (istemiyorum in the present).

So the sentence really means: “(Right now / in this situation), while you are working, I don’t want to disturb you.”

Can I say Sen çalışıyorken seni rahatsız etmek istemiyorum instead of çalışırken?

You can, and it is grammatically understandable, but çalışırken is far more common and natural.

Nuances:

• çalışırken: standard, idiomatic form for “while working.”
• çalışıyorken:
  • Formed from the present continuous stem çalışıyor-
    • -ken
  • Used, but often sounds a bit heavier or more emphatic.
  • More likely in careful or literary speech; many speakers simply stick with çalışırken.

For everyday Turkish, use çalışırken to express “while (someone is) working.”

How does seni rahatsız etmek function grammatically with istemiyorum?

Seni rahatsız etmek is an infinitive phrase acting as the object of istemiyorum.

Breakdown:

• seni = you (object form)
• rahatsız etmek = to disturb
• Together: seni rahatsız etmek = “to disturb you / disturbing you”

Then:

• seni rahatsız etmek (what I don’t want)
  
  • istemiyorum (I don’t want)
    → Seni rahatsız etmek istemiyorum. = “I don’t want to disturb you.”

So structurally, it’s very close to English “I don’t want to disturb you.”

How would this sentence change if I wanted to be more polite or formal?

The main change is to use “siz” (formal/plural “you”) instead of “sen” (informal singular):

• Siz çalışırken sizi rahatsız etmek istemiyorum.

Details:

• siz = formal/plural “you” (subject form)
• sizi = formal/plural “you” (object form)

You might also drop the subject:

• Çalışırken sizi rahatsız etmek istemiyorum.

That would be appropriate to say to a teacher, a stranger, a boss, etc.

Why is there no word directly meaning “while” in the sentence?

Because in Turkish, the idea of “while” is usually expressed by the suffix -ken, not a separate word.

• English: while you are working
• Turkish: sen çalışırken

So -ken attached to the verb stem replaces a separate conjunction like “while”:

• ben eve giderken = while I am going home
• o yemek yerken = while he/she is eating
• sen çalışırken = while you are working

No extra word is needed; the -ken suffix itself encodes that “while/when” meaning.