Babaanne gelince, çocuk ona sarılmadan edemedi.

Babaanne specifically means paternal grandmother — your father’s mother.

Turkish distinguishes:

• babaanne = father’s mother
• anneanne = mother’s mother

In English, both are usually just grandmother / grandma, so this can feel unusually specific to English speakers.

Gelince comes from gelmek (to come / to arrive) + -ince.

So:

• gel- = come
• -ince = when / once / upon

In this sentence, gelince means something like:

• when she arrived
• when grandma came
• once grandma arrived

It creates a time clause. The subject is understood from context, so Babaanne gelince means when grandma arrived.

Not always. -ince often gives a meaning like:

• when
• once
• as soon as
• upon

The exact English translation depends on context.

For example:

• Eve gelince beni ara. = Call me when you get home.
• Onu görünce sevindim. = I was happy when I saw him/her.

In your sentence, when grandma arrived is the most natural translation.

Because the verb sarılmak (to hug / embrace) takes the dative case, not the direct object.

So:

• o = he / she / it
• ona = to him / to her
• onu = him / her (direct object)

In Turkish, you hug to someone, grammatically speaking:

• ona sarılmak = to hug her/him

This is a very common thing to notice as an English speaker, because English says hug someone, but Turkish uses the dative:

• Anneme sarıldım. = I hugged my mother.
  • literally closer to I hugged to my mother in structure

This is a very important pattern in Turkish.

Verb + -madan edememek means:

• to be unable to refrain from doing
• to not be able to help doing
• to be unable to resist doing

So:

• sarılmadan = without hugging
• edemedi = could not do

Together, sarılmadan edemedi literally means:

• he/she could not do without hugging

More naturally in English:

• he/she couldn’t help hugging her
• he/she couldn’t resist hugging her

So the sentence means that when grandma arrived, the child automatically hugged her.

Because the Turkish structure itself is idiomatic.

The pattern is:

-madan edememek
= cannot help doing

It contains a negative-looking form, but the whole expression does not simply mean plain negation. It means being unable to avoid an action.

Compare:

• Gülmeden edemedim. = I couldn’t help laughing.
• Sormadan edemeyeceğim. = I won’t be able to resist asking.
• Bakmadan edemedi. = He/She couldn’t help looking.

So in your sentence, the child did hug her — the negative form is part of the fixed expression.

-madan / -meden usually means without doing.

Examples:

• yemeden = without eating
• gitmeden = without going
• konuşmadan = without speaking

So:

• sarılmadan = without hugging

But in the special pattern -madan edememek, it forms an idiomatic meaning:

• couldn’t do without hugging
• therefore couldn’t help hugging

So yes, -madan normally means without, but in this expression you should understand the whole chunk together.

The subject is çocuk (the child).

So the structure is:

• Babaanne gelince = when grandma arrived
• çocuk = the child
• ona sarılmadan edemedi = couldn’t help hugging her

The person who arrived is babaanne.
The person who couldn’t help hugging is çocuk.

Turkish has no articles like a/an/the.

So çocuk can mean:

• a child
• the child
• the kid

You decide from context.

In this sentence, English will usually use the child, because it sounds like a specific child already understood in the situation:

• When grandma arrived, the child couldn’t help hugging her.

Yes, often it could.

• Babaanne gelince...
• Babaanne geldiğinde...

Both can mean when grandma arrived / when grandma came.

Very roughly:

• -ince often feels a bit more immediate or event-like: when / once
• -diğinde can feel a bit more neutral or descriptive: when

In many everyday sentences, both are possible.
Here, gelince sounds very natural.

The sentence uses a very common Turkish order:

[time clause], [main clause]

So:

• Babaanne gelince, = When grandma arrived,
• çocuk ona sarılmadan edemedi. = the child couldn’t help hugging her.

This is natural and common in Turkish. You could sometimes rearrange parts for emphasis, but the given order is straightforward and standard.

Usually yes: to hug / embrace.

It can also sometimes mean:

• to cling to
• to hold onto depending on context.

Examples:

• Annesine sarıldı. = He/She hugged his/her mother.
• Yastığa sarıldı. = He/She clutched the pillow.

In your sentence, the meaning is clearly a normal affectionate hug.

It can function almost like one in context.

In Turkish, family titles are very often used directly as references:

• Anne geldi. = Mom came.
• Dede oturuyor. = Grandpa is sitting.
• Babaanne gelince... = When Grandma arrived...

So even though babaanne is a common noun, in real use it can feel close to a proper-name-style family reference, just like Mom or Grandma in English.

A few natural translations are:

• When Grandma arrived, the child couldn’t help hugging her.
• When his/her grandmother arrived, the child couldn’t resist hugging her.
• As soon as Grandma came, the child hugged her without being able to hold back.

The most idiomatic everyday English version is probably:

When Grandma arrived, the child couldn’t help hugging her.