Bu hikaye komik, ben gülmeden edemiyorum.

A word-by-word breakdown is:

• bu = this
• hikaye = story
• komik = funny
• ben = I
• gülmeden = without laughing
• edemiyorum = I can’t do / I’m unable to do

So the second part is literally something like:

I cannot do it without laughing

As a full natural sentence, it means:

This story is funny; I can’t help laughing.

In Turkish, the verb to be is often omitted in present-tense sentences like this.

So:

• Bu hikaye komik = This story is funny
• literally: This story funny

This is completely normal Turkish. In the present tense, adjective sentences usually do not need a separate word for is / am / are.

Compare:

• Hava soğuk. = The weather is cold.
• Ben yorgunum. = I am tired.
• Film güzel. = The movie is nice.

With ben yorgunum, the personal ending is attached, but with a third-person subject like bu hikaye, you often just get the adjective by itself: komik.

No, ben is not strictly necessary.

Turkish often drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows the person:

• edemiyorum already means I can’t

So the speaker could also say:

Bu hikaye komik, gülmeden edemiyorum.

That would still clearly mean I can’t help laughing.

Using ben adds emphasis or contrast, something like:

• as for me
• I personally
• I just can’t help laughing

So in this sentence, ben is optional but can sound expressive.

This is a very common Turkish pattern.

Break it down:

• gülmek = to laugh
• gülme- = verb stem area
• -den / -dan in this structure becomes -meden / -madan = without doing
• gülmeden = without laughing
• edemiyorum = I can’t do

Together:

gülmeden edemiyorum
literally: I can’t manage without laughing

This pattern means:

can’t help doing something

More examples:

• Ağlamadan edemedi. = She couldn’t help crying.
• Bakmadan edemiyorum. = I can’t help looking.
• Sormadan edemem. = I can’t help asking.

So this is an important set phrase in Turkish.

Because Turkish expresses this idea through a double-negative-style structure:

• gülmeden = without laughing
• edemiyorum = I cannot do

So the logic is:

I cannot carry on without laughing

That becomes:

I can’t help laughing

English uses can’t help + -ing, while Turkish uses verb + -madan/-meden + edememek.

It is not a direct word-for-word match, but it is a very natural Turkish way to express the same idea.

-madan / -meden is a suffix meaning without doing.

Which form you use depends on vowel harmony:

• bakmadan = without looking
• gelmeden = without coming
• konuşmadan = without speaking
• gülmeden = without laughing

It attaches to a verb stem and creates an adverbial form.

So:

• gülmek = to laugh
• gülmeden = without laughing

In this sentence, it forms part of the idiom -meden edememek.

Here etmek is part of a fixed expression: -madan/-meden edememek.

So although etmek often means to do, in this pattern it does not mean a concrete separate action. Instead, the whole expression works together:

• gülmeden edemiyorum = I can’t help laughing
• sormadan edemem = I can’t help asking

You should learn this as a chunk rather than trying to interpret edemiyorum too literally every time.

Also:

• ede- = from etmek
• -me- = negation
• -iyor = present continuous / present
• -um = I

So edemiyorum = I am not able to do

-iyor is the present continuous suffix, but in Turkish it often also covers what English expresses with the simple present in some contexts.

So:

• edemiyorum literally looks like I am not being able to do
• but natural English is I can’t

In everyday Turkish, this form is normal for a present, current state:

• Bilmiyorum. = I don’t know.
• Göremiyorum. = I can’t see.
• Anlamıyorum. = I don’t understand.

So here edemiyorum is simply the natural present-tense form.

Yes, it is natural. The sentence has two closely related clauses:

• Bu hikaye komik
• ben gülmeden edemiyorum

The second clause explains the result or reaction to the first:

This story is funny, and I can’t help laughing.

In speech, you would usually hear a pause there. In writing, a comma is fine.

You could also connect them more explicitly with o kadar... ki or another structure, but the original sentence is perfectly natural and conversational.

Yes. Turkish word order is flexible, though some versions sound more natural depending on emphasis.

Original:

Bu hikaye komik, ben gülmeden edemiyorum.

Possible variation:

Bu hikaye komik, gülmeden edemiyorum.

This is probably the most natural version if no special emphasis on ben is needed.

You could also move things around for emphasis, but not every rearrangement sounds equally smooth. Turkish often places the most important or focused element near the verb or before it.

So the original is fine, but ben is mainly there for emphasis.

Yes, hikaye is the normal modern spelling you will usually see.

You may also encounter hikâye, with a circumflex, especially in older texts, more careful writing, or dictionaries. The circumflex can show a historical long vowel or help indicate pronunciation, but in everyday modern Turkish, many such words are written without it.

So for practical purposes:

• hikaye = standard everyday spelling
• hikâye = also recognized, but less common in ordinary writing

It sounds natural and conversational.

Especially the phrase gülmeden edemiyorum is a very common everyday way to say:

• I can’t help laughing
• I just can’t stop myself from laughing

So the whole sentence feels like something a person would naturally say in speech or informal writing.

A slightly smoother conversational version might be:

Bu hikaye çok komik, gülmeden edemiyorum.

Adding çok makes the reaction sound even more natural:

This story is so funny, I can’t help laughing.