Martı rıhtıma konunca çocuk çok sevindi.

-ınca / -ince / -unca / -ünce is a common Turkish verb ending meaning when, once, or upon doing something.

So:

• konmak = to land, perch, settle
• konunca = when it landed / once it landed

In this sentence, Martı rıhtıma konunca... means When the seagull landed on the pier...

This form is often called a converb or adverbial verb form, because it links one action to another.

Because konmak here takes the dative case, which often marks direction or destination.

• rıhtım = pier, quay
• rıhtıma = to the pier / onto the pier

So rıhtıma konmak means to land on / onto the pier.

The ending is -a / -e in the dative, but after some words it appears with a buffer or adjusted form depending on the final sound. Here:

• rıhtım
  • -a → rıhtıma

Here konmak means to land, to perch, or to settle onto a surface, especially for birds or insects.

So for a seagull, konmak is a very natural verb.

Examples:

• Kuş dala kondu. = The bird landed/perched on the branch.
• Sinek duvara kondu. = The fly landed on the wall.

In this sentence, martı ... konunca means the seagull landed on the pier.

Because it has two clauses:

1. Martı rıhtıma konunca = When the seagull landed on the pier

   • subject: martı

2. çocuk çok sevindi = the child became very happy

   • subject: çocuk

This is completely normal in Turkish. The subject of the -ınca clause does not have to be the same as the subject of the main clause.

These are different verbs:

• sevmek → sevdi = loved / liked
• sevinmek → sevindi = became happy / was glad / rejoiced

So:

• Çocuk sevdi would mean The child liked/loved (someone/something), and it would usually need an object.
• Çocuk sevindi means The child was happy or became glad.

In this sentence, sevindi is the correct verb because it describes the child’s emotional reaction.

Çok here means very.

It modifies sevindi:

• çocuk çok sevindi = the child was very happy

In Turkish, adverbs like çok often come right before the word they modify, especially in simple sentences.

Compare:

• çok güzel = very beautiful
• çok hızlı = very fast
• çok sevindi = was very happy

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

So words like:

• martı can mean a seagull or the seagull
• çocuk can mean a child or the child

The exact meaning depends on context. Since you already know the sentence meaning, the translation may use the or a, but Turkish itself does not mark that distinction in the same way.

Primarily, -ınca gives a time relationship: when / once something happens.

But in real usage, it can also carry a slight cause-and-effect feeling, depending on context.

So this sentence can feel like:

• When the seagull landed on the pier, the child became very happy and also a little like
• The child became very happy because the seagull landed on the pier

The main meaning is still temporal, but the emotional reaction makes a causal connection easy to feel.

The given order is very natural:

• Martı rıhtıma konunca çocuk çok sevindi.

Turkish often places the background/event clause first and the main result clause after it.

But word order can change for emphasis. For example:

• Çocuk, martı rıhtıma konunca çok sevindi.

This still means basically the same thing, but it highlights çocuk a bit more.

The most important thing is that the main finite verb of the sentence usually comes near the end:

• sevindi

The tricky part is the Turkish ı, which is not the same as English i.

• i = like the vowel in machine (roughly)
• ı = a deeper, unrounded vowel that English does not really have

So in rıhtıma, both ı sounds are the undotted ı.

A rough learner-friendly approximation might be:

• ruh-tuh-ma
  but this is only approximate.

Also:

• h is pronounced
• stress is usually not very strong in a dramatic English-like way

So rıhtıma should not sound like reehtima.

Yes, sometimes that works in English.

Depending on context, konunca can be translated as:

• when it landed
• once it landed
• after it landed

But when is often the safest basic translation for learners, because it matches the Turkish structure well.

In this sentence, all of these are possible in natural English, though when the seagull landed on the pier is probably the most straightforward.