Küçük kız öksürünce annesi ona şurup verdi.

A rough breakdown is:

• küçük kız = little girl
• öksürünce = when she coughed / when coughing happened
• annesi = her mother
• ona = to her
• şurup = syrup
• verdi = gave

So the sentence is literally structured something like:

Little girl when-coughed her mother to-her syrup gave.

More natural English: When the little girl coughed, her mother gave her syrup.

Öksürünce comes from the verb öksürmek (to cough).

Formation:

• remove the dictionary ending -mek
• verb stem: öksür-
• add the converb ending -ince / -ınca / -ünce / -unca

So:

öksür- + ünce → öksürünce

This ending usually means things like:

• when ...
• once ...
• as soon as ...

Here, öksürünce means when she coughed or when the little girl coughed.

Because Turkish often expresses meanings like when, if, because, or after with suffixes instead of separate words.

In English, you say: When the little girl coughed...

In Turkish, the idea of when is built into öksürünce.

So instead of a separate conjunction, Turkish uses a verb form.

Because annesi means her mother.

It is:

• anne = mother
• -si = his/her/its possessive ending

So:

anne → annesi = her mother

In this sentence, the mother is understood as the little girl’s mother.

This is very common in Turkish, especially with family words like:

• annesi = her mother
• babası = his/her father
• abisi / ağabeyi = his/her older brother

It could be.

Küçük kızın annesi ona şurup verdi would mean: The little girl’s mother gave her syrup.

But Turkish often leaves out the possessor if it is already clear from context.

So:

• annesi = her mother
• and the her is understood from küçük kız

The original sentence sounds natural because the connection is obvious.

Because vermek (to give) normally uses the person receiving something in the dative case, which often means to someone.

• o = he / she / it
• ona = to him / to her / to it

So:

• ona şurup verdi = gave syrup to her

With pronouns, Turkish uses a buffer n before the case ending:

• o + a → ona

Because Turkish often leaves the direct object without the accusative ending when it is indefinite or non-specific.

So:

• şurup verdi = gave syrup / gave some syrup
• şurubu verdi = gave the syrup / gave a specific syrup

This is an important Turkish pattern:

• bare object = usually indefinite/non-specific
• accusative-marked object = usually definite/specific

In this sentence, şurup sounds like some syrup or syrup as medicine, not a specifically identified syrup.

Verdi is the simple past of vermek (to give).

Formation:

• ver- = give
• -di = past tense

So:

verdi = gave

This is the main finite verb of the sentence.

The sentence has two parts:

• Küçük kız öksürünce = when the little girl coughed
• annesi ona şurup verdi = her mother gave her syrup

So:

• the one who coughed = küçük kız
• the one who gave = annesi
• the one who received = ona (to her), understood here as the little girl

Turkish often relies on structure, suffixes, and context rather than repeating names or pronouns.

It is quite natural Turkish word order.

A common Turkish pattern is:

[time/background clause] + [subject] + [indirect object] + [object] + [verb]

That is exactly what happens here:

• Küçük kız öksürünce = background/time clause
• annesi = subject
• ona = indirect object
• şurup = direct object
• verdi = verb

The biggest thing for English speakers to notice is that the main verb usually comes at the end.

Yes, depending on context.

The ending -ince/-ınca/-ünce/-unca can cover several close English ideas:

• when
• once
• as soon as
• sometimes even after

In this sentence, the most neutral translation is when the little girl coughed.

But the exact nuance depends on context and tone.

Yes. A common alternative is:

Küçük kız öksürdüğünde annesi ona şurup verdi.

This also means: When the little girl coughed, her mother gave her syrup.

Very roughly:

• öksürünce = compact, common, often very natural in storytelling
• öksürdüğünde = also very common, sometimes a bit more neutral or explicit

Both are correct; learners should recognize both patterns.