Muhtar hanım gelince, vatandaşlar adres kaydı hakkında soru sordular.

Gelince comes from gelmek (to come / to arrive) plus the suffix -ince. In this sentence, it means when ... came or when ... arrived.

So:

• Muhtar hanım gelince = when Ms. Muhtar arrived / when the female muhtar came

Depending on context, -ince can also feel like once or upon.

It can refer to either past or future. The form -ince itself does not fix the time by itself; the rest of the sentence and the context help you understand it.

For example:

• Gelince haber ver. = Let me know when you come.
• Gelince soru sordular. = When she came, they asked questions.

Here, because the main verb sordular is in the past, gelince is naturally understood as when she came.

Because Muhtar hanım is the subject of that part.

So the sentence is divided like this:

• Muhtar hanım gelince = when Muhtar Hanım came
• vatandaşlar ... soru sordular = the citizens/residents asked questions

This is important because the two parts have different subjects:

• Muhtar hanım is the one who came
• vatandaşlar are the ones who asked

Turkish allows this very naturally.

Turkish often leaves out subject pronouns when they are clear from context.

English often needs she, he, they, etc., but Turkish usually does not. Here, once Muhtar hanım is stated, Turkish does not need an extra she.

Also, Turkish does not mark gender in the verb. So gelince does not itself mean when she came versus when he came; the context tells you that.

A muhtar is a local elected official in Turkey, usually the head of a village or neighborhood.

There is no perfect one-word English equivalent. Depending on context, it might be translated as:

• village head
• neighborhood head
• local head official

But many translations simply keep the word muhtar.

In Turkish, polite titles like Hanım and Bey usually come after the name or title.

For example:

• Ayşe Hanım
• Ahmet Bey
• Doktor Bey
• Muhtar Hanım

This feels reversed to English speakers, because English usually puts titles before the name, such as Mrs. Smith or Dr. Brown.

Here hanım is a respectful way to refer to a woman.

Vatandaş means citizen. The ending -lar makes it plural:

• vatandaş = citizen
• vatandaşlar = citizens

In this kind of sentence, English might sometimes translate vatandaşlar more naturally as residents or locals, depending on the context.

Because this is a very common Turkish noun-compound pattern.

In many noun compounds, the first noun describes the second noun, and the second noun takes a special ending. So:

• adres = address
• kayıt = record / registration
• adres kaydı = address record / address registration

This pattern appears in many other expressions too:

• kimlik kartı = ID card
• otobüs durağı = bus stop

So adres kaydı is the normal Turkish form.

Hakkında means about, concerning, or regarding.

Turkish often uses postpositions, which means they come after the noun phrase, unlike English prepositions, which come before.

So:

• adres kaydı hakkında = about address registration

Literally, the order is closer to:

• address registration about

That is normal in Turkish.

It may look repetitive at first, but it is completely normal Turkish.

• soru = question
• sormak = to ask
• soru sormak = to ask a question / to ask questions

Turkish often uses noun + verb combinations where English prefers one simpler verb. So this is an ordinary collocation, not a mistake.

It can mean either, depending on context.

A bare noun like soru in Turkish does not always match English singular/plural in a neat way. So:

• soru sordular could be they asked a question
• or they asked questions

In many contexts, especially with a plural subject like vatandaşlar, English may naturally choose asked questions.

If Turkish wanted to clearly highlight one question, it could say bir soru.

Because Turkish normally puts the main finite verb at the end of the clause.

So the sentence structure is roughly:

• Muhtar hanım gelince = when Ms. Muhtar came
• vatandaşlar = the citizens/residents
• adres kaydı hakkında = about address registration
• soru sordular = asked questions

This final-verb pattern is one of the most basic features of Turkish word order.

Because the subject is plural and human.

• vatandaşlar = they
• sordular = they asked

In Turkish, plural marking on the verb is very normal with human plural subjects, especially in standard written language. So vatandaşlar sordular is completely natural.