Küçük çocuk annesinden ayrılınca ağladı.

A natural word-by-word breakdown is:

• küçük = small, little
• çocuk = child
• annesinden = from his/her mother
• ayrılınca = when he/she left / when he/she became separated
• ağladı = cried

So the whole sentence means something like:

• The little child cried when he/she was separated from his/her mother.
• or The little child cried when he/she left his/her mother.

The exact English wording can vary a little depending on context.

In Turkish, adjectives normally come before the noun they describe, just like in English.

• küçük çocuk = little child
• büyük ev = big house
• güzel araba = beautiful car

Also, Turkish adjectives do not change form for singular/plural or gender.

Annesinden contains several parts:

• anne = mother
• -si = his/her (3rd person possessive)
• -nden / -den = from

So:

• anneden = from the mother / from mother
• annesinden = from his/her mother

The -si shows possession, so the meaning is more specific. In this sentence, it usually refers to the child's mother.

There is also a sound-related detail: after the possessive form annesi, the ablative becomes annesinden, with an extra n acting as a linker.

It breaks down like this:

• anne = mother
• anne-si = his/her mother
• anne-si-n-den = from his/her mother

Step by step:

1. anne
2. annesi = his/her mother
3. annesinden = from his/her mother

The -den/-dan ending is the ablative case, often meaning from.

The extra -n- appears between the possessive ending and the case ending. This is very common in Turkish.

Ayrılınca comes from the verb ayrılmak, which means to separate, to leave, or to part from.

It is:

• ayrıl- = separate / leave
• -ınca = when, once, upon

So ayrılınca means:

• when he/she left
• when he/she separated
• when he/she was separated

In context, English may translate it in slightly different ways, but the core idea is when separation happened.

This suffix creates a when clause.

• gelince = when he/she comes / came
• bitince = when it ends / ended
• ayrılınca = when he/she leaves / left

So in this sentence:

• annesinden ayrılınca = when he/she separated from his/her mother

It connects the first action to the second one:

1. separation happens
2. then the child cries

Depending on context, -ınca/-ince can also feel like once or as soon as.

Because ayrılmak is the intransitive form: to separate, to part, to leave.

Compare:

• ayırmak = to separate something
• ayrılmak = to become separated / to leave / to part

In this sentence, the child is not actively separating two things. The child is the one leaving or becoming separated from the mother, so ayrılmak is the correct verb.

Ağladı is in the simple past (also called the definite past in Turkish).

Breakdown:

• ağla- = cry
• -dı = past tense

So:

• ağladı = he/she cried

This tense is commonly used for completed past events.

Turkish third-person singular verbs do not distinguish between he, she, and it.

So:

• ağladı can mean he cried, she cried, or sometimes it cried

Turkish does not have grammatical gender like English does. You understand the person from context or from the noun:

• küçük çocuk ... ağladı = the little child cried

So English forces you to choose he or she, but Turkish does not.

Turkish does not have articles like the or a/an.

So:

• küçük çocuk can mean the little child or a little child
• context tells you which one sounds best in English

That is why the Turkish sentence can be translated in more than one natural way, even though the Turkish itself is perfectly normal and complete.

Not completely. Turkish word order is flexible, although subject + other elements + verb is very common.

This sentence uses a very natural order:

• Küçük çocuk = subject
• annesinden ayrılınca = time/subordinate clause
• ağladı = main verb

Because Turkish usually puts the main verb at the end, ağladı comes last.

You could change the order for emphasis, but this version is neutral and natural.

It can suggest either, depending on context.

• when he left his mother focuses more on the action of moving away
• when he was separated from his mother focuses more on the state/result of being apart

The Turkish verb ayrılmak can cover both ideas. If the situation is emotional, like a child crying, English often chooses was separated from his/her mother because that sounds very natural.

In this sentence, it most naturally refers to the child:

• küçük çocuk annesinden ... = the little child, from his/her mother ...

So the usual understanding is:

• from the child’s mother
• in English: from his mother or from her mother

Turkish often leaves this kind of relationship to context instead of spelling it out as explicitly as English sometimes does.

Yes, that is a reasonable translation.

The suffix -ınca/-ince often means:

• when
• once
• after

So depending on the context, these can all work:

• The little child cried when he was separated from his mother.
• The little child cried after he was separated from his mother.
• The little child cried once he was separated from his mother.

The differences are small and mostly about natural English style.