Hava soğuyunca salep içmeden edemiyorum; üstüne biraz tarçın koyuyorum.

Soğuyunca comes from soğumak = to get cold / to become cold.

It breaks down like this:

• soğu- = verb stem
• -yunca / -ince = when, once, after

So:

• hava soğuyunca = when the weather gets cold / once it turns cold

The -y- appears because the verb stem ends in a vowel.

This -ınca/-ince/-unca/-ünce form is very common in Turkish for time clauses:

• Eve gelince = when I come home
• Seni görünce = when I see you

In Turkish, hava is very commonly used in the singular to mean the weather in a general sense.

So:

• Hava soğuk. = The weather is cold.
• Hava soğuyunca... = When the weather gets cold...

You can hear havalar soğuyunca, but that sounds more like when the weather starts getting colder these days / when the season turns colder. The singular hava is the most basic and natural choice here.

Also, hava can mean both air and weather, depending on context.

This is a very common Turkish pattern:

• X-meden / -madan edememek

It means:

• to be unable not to do X
• more naturally in English: to be unable to resist doing X / to can't help doing X

So:

• içmeden edemiyorum literally = I can't do without drinking
• natural English meaning = I can't help drinking it / I just have to drink it

This structure often expresses a strong habit, urge, or irresistible tendency.

Examples:

• Gülmeden edemiyorum. = I can't help laughing.
• Sana bakmadan edemem. = I can't help looking at you.

So in your sentence, it gives the idea that when the weather gets cold, drinking salep feels almost unavoidable.

It has three parts:

1. iç- = drink
2. -meden = without doing
3. edemiyorum = I can't do

So word-for-word, it looks like:

• içmeden = without drinking
• edemiyorum = I can't do/manage

Together, though, this is an idiomatic pattern:

• içmeden edemiyorum = I can't help drinking it

This is one of those places where a literal translation sounds odd in English, but the Turkish structure is very normal.

Because salep here is an indefinite / non-specific direct object.

In Turkish, a direct object often stays bare if it is general, indefinite, or not specifically identified.

So:

• salep içiyorum = I drink salep / I’m drinking salep
• salebi içiyorum = I’m drinking the salep / that specific salep

In this sentence, the speaker means salep in general, not one particular cup already mentioned. That is why salep has no accusative ending.

This is a very important Turkish pattern:

• bare object = indefinite/general
• accusative-marked object = specific/definite

Here üstüne means on top of it.

It comes from:

• üst = top / upper part
• üstü = its top / the top of it
• üstüne = onto its top / on top of it

In food and drink contexts, üstüne is extremely common for on top, over it, or added onto it.

So:

• üstüne biraz tarçın koyuyorum = I put a little cinnamon on top

Here, üstüne refers to the salep.

Also note: in other contexts, üstüne can mean things like over, onto, or even after that / in addition to that, but here the physical meaning on top of it is the right one.

Because üstüne contains both a possessive ending and a case ending.

The structure is:

• üst = top
• -ü = third person singular possessive (its top)
• -ne = dative (to / onto), with a buffer n

So:

• üstü = its top
• üstüne = onto its top / on top of it

That n often appears when a case ending is attached after a third-person possessive form.

You also see this in words like:

• evi = his/her house
• evine = to his/her house

So üstüne is not random; it follows a standard pattern.

For the same reason that salep is bare: this is an indefinite amount of something.

• biraz tarçın = a little cinnamon

Since it is an unspecified quantity of a mass noun, Turkish normally leaves it unmarked:

• üstüne biraz tarçın koyuyorum = I put a little cinnamon on top

If you said tarçını, that would usually sound like the cinnamon, meaning a specific cinnamon already known in the conversation.

So the bare form is the natural choice here.

Yes, koymak basically means to put/place, but in Turkish it is also very natural for adding ingredients, toppings, or extras to food and drinks.

So:

• çaya şeker koymak = to put sugar in tea
• yemeğe tuz koymak = to add salt to the food
• üstüne tarçın koymak = to put/add cinnamon on top

In English, we might say:

• add
• put
• sprinkle

In Turkish, koymak covers a lot of that territory.

You could also hear:

• serpmek = to sprinkle
• eklemek = to add

But üstüne biraz tarçın koyuyorum is very natural and everyday Turkish.

Turkish -iyor does more than English -ing.

Here koyuyorum can mean:

• I am putting
• I put
• I usually put

In this sentence, it describes a habitual action that happens whenever the weather gets cold and the speaker drinks salep.

So the meaning is something like:

• I put a little cinnamon on top
• I usually add a little cinnamon on top

The Turkish present continuous is very often used for habits and regular behavior, not just actions happening right now.

Yes, but the nuance is a little different.

• hava soğuyunca = when the weather gets cold / turns cold
• hava soğuk olunca = when the weather is cold

So:

• soğuyunca focuses more on the change into colder weather
• soğuk olunca focuses more on the state of being cold

In many everyday situations, both can work, but soğuyunca feels especially natural for seasonal change: once the weather starts turning cold, the speaker craves salep.

Yes, the semicolon is mainly a punctuation choice linking two closely related ideas:

• Hava soğuyunca salep içmeden edemiyorum;
• üstüne biraz tarçın koyuyorum.

It shows that the second part is closely connected to the first: not only does the speaker drink salep, they also add cinnamon to it.

In everyday writing, you might also see:

• a comma
• a period
• ve (and)

For example:

• Hava soğuyunca salep içmeden edemiyorum, üstüne biraz tarçın koyuyorum.
• Hava soğuyunca salep içmeden edemiyorum. Üstüne biraz tarçın koyuyorum.

All are possible. The semicolon just gives a neat, slightly more polished connection.

This is a very common question for English speakers.

In modern Turkish, ğ usually does not sound like a strong consonant. It often:

• lengthens the previous vowel, or
• creates a smooth glide between vowels

So soğuyunca is not pronounced with a hard g sound.

It sounds roughly like:

• so-oo-yunca or sooyunca

The important thing is:

• do not pronounce it like English g in go

This happens in many Turkish words:

• dağ sounds roughly like daa
• soğuk sounds roughly like so-uk / soo-uk
• değil sounds roughly like deyil or dee-il, depending on the speaker

So in soğuyunca, think of ğ as smoothing or stretching the sound rather than adding a hard consonant.

Turkish word order is flexible, but the given sentence is very natural.

Current order:

• Hava soğuyunca = time/background
• salep içmeden edemiyorum = main statement
• üstüne biraz tarçın koyuyorum = extra related action

This order works well because it moves from:

1. when
2. what I can’t resist
3. what I add to it

You can move parts around for emphasis, but not every rearrangement sounds equally natural.

For example:

• Hava soğuyunca üstüne biraz tarçın koyduğum salep içmeden edemiyorum is grammatical, but much heavier and less straightforward.

So yes, Turkish allows flexibility, but the original version is a very natural everyday way to say it.