Şanslı sayılırız; yağmur başlamadan eve dönebildik.

It literally means we are considered lucky or we count as lucky.

In natural English, depending on context, it can sound like:

• We can consider ourselves lucky
• We’re lucky, you could say
• We count ourselves lucky

So it is a little more nuanced than a plain we are lucky.

Because the two expressions are close, but not identical.

• şanslıyız = we are lucky
• şanslı sayılırız = we can be regarded as lucky / we count ourselves lucky

Şanslı sayılırız sounds a bit more evaluative. It suggests:

• looking at what happened,
• the speaker concludes that they were lucky.

So in this sentence, the second clause gives the reason, and the first clause gives the conclusion: we were lucky, because we managed to get home before the rain started.

It comes from sayılmak, which means to be considered / to be counted as.

Breakdown:

• say- = root related to saymak
• -ıl- = passive marker
• -ır = aorist / general statement form
• -ız = we

So sayılırız literally means we are considered or we count as.

Yes, grammatically it is passive in origin.

It comes from:

• saymak = to count, to consider
• sayılmak = to be counted, to be considered

In this sentence, though, it functions as a normal dictionary verb meaning to be considered. The focus is not on who considers us lucky. Turkish often uses this kind of passive form when the agent is unimportant or unspecified.

Başlamadan comes from başlamak, meaning to start / begin.

Breakdown:

• başla- = start
• -ma
• -dan

Together, -madan / -meden forms an adverbial structure meaning:

• without doing
• and very often, in context, before doing

So yağmur başlamadan means before the rain started or more literally with the rain not having started yet.

That is a very common question.

The basic idea of -madan / -meden is without X happening.

In this sentence:

• yağmur başlamadan eve dönebildik

The idea is:

• we managed to return home while the rain had not started yet

That naturally becomes before the rain started in English.

So:

• without starting is the literal building block
• before it started is the natural time meaning in this context

Because -madan / -meden can already express the idea clearly by itself.

So both of these are possible:

• yağmur başlamadan eve dönebildik
• yağmur başlamadan önce eve dönebildik

The version with önce is a bit more explicit, but the version without it is perfectly natural.

Because Turkish uses the dative case for movement toward a destination.

• ev = house / home
• eve = to home / toward home
• evde = at home / in the house

Since dönmek here means to return to a place, Turkish uses eve:

• eve dönmek = to return home

So evde would mean being located at home, not moving there.

Dönebildik means we were able to return or we managed to return.

Breakdown:

• dön- = return / turn
• -e- = linking vowel
• -bil- = ability / possibility
• -di- = past tense
• -k = we

So:

• dönebildik = we could return / we managed to return

In this sentence, it suggests successful ability: not just that the action happened, but that it was possible in time.

Because dönebildik adds an important nuance.

• döndük = we returned
• dönebildik = we were able to return / we managed to return

The sentence is talking about being lucky. That sense of luck is tied to the fact that they managed to get home before the rain started. So the ability/success nuance of -ebil- fits very well.

It is built into the verb endings.

Both verbs show first person plural:

• sayılırız = we are considered
• dönebildik = we were able to return

Turkish often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb already makes the subject clear. You could add biz for emphasis, but it is not necessary.

The semicolon links two closely related clauses:

• Şanslı sayılırız = evaluation/conclusion
• yağmur başlamadan eve dönebildik = reason/evidence

So the structure is basically:

• We count ourselves lucky; here’s why: we got home before the rain started.

It could also be written as two separate sentences, and in some contexts a comma might appear instead. The semicolon just neatly connects the conclusion and the explanation.

The given word order is natural, but Turkish word order is more flexible than English.

This version starts with the conclusion:

• Şanslı sayılırız

Then it gives the reason:

• yağmur başlamadan eve dönebildik

You could reverse the order for a different emphasis, but this version sounds very natural because it presents the judgment first and the explanation second.