Pencere açılınca oda hemen aydınlandı.

the room

Breakdown of Pencere açılınca oda hemen aydınlandı.

• hemen: immediately
• açılmak: to open (intransitive)
• pencere: the window

Questions & Answers about Pencere açılınca oda hemen aydınlandı.

What does açılınca mean, and how is it formed?

Açılınca comes from:

• açıl- = to open / to be opened
• -ınca / -ince = when / once / as soon as

So açılınca means when it opened, when it was opened, or once it opened, depending on context.

The form is açıl + ınca. It is -ınca here, not -ince, because of vowel harmony.

Why is it açılınca instead of açınca?

Because açmak and açılmak are different verbs:

• açmak = to open something
  
  • example idea: I open the window
• açılmak = to open / to be opened
  
  • example idea: the window opens / is opened

In this sentence, pencere is the thing that opens, so Turkish naturally uses açılmak.

So:

• Pencere açınca would sound wrong or incomplete to most learners, because it suggests the window opened something
• Pencere açılınca correctly means when the window opened / was opened

What exactly does -ınca / -ince mean here?