Dayım gelince birlikte çay içeceğiz.

Dayım means my maternal uncle — specifically, your mother’s brother.

Turkish has different words for different kinds of uncles:

• dayı = mother’s brother
• amca = father’s brother

So dayım is not just my uncle in a general sense. It tells you which side of the family he is on.

The -ım ending means my.

So:

• dayı = maternal uncle
• dayım = my maternal uncle

It breaks down like this:

• dayı = maternal uncle
• -ım = my

So:

• dayı + -ım → dayım

This is a possessive form. In Turkish, instead of using a separate word like my, you often add a possessive suffix directly to the noun.

Other examples:

• ev = house

• evim = my house

• kitap = book
• kitabım = my book

Gelince means something like:

• when he comes
• once he comes
• after he comes
• sometimes even as soon as he comes, depending on context

In this sentence, it introduces the time of the main action. It tells us when the tea-drinking will happen.

So the structure is basically:

• Dayım gelince = when my uncle comes
• birlikte çay içeceğiz = we will drink tea together

It comes from:

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

So:

• gel + ince → gelince

This suffix follows vowel harmony:

• after front vowels, you often get -ince
• after back vowels, you often get -ınca

Examples:

• gelince = when he comes
• bakınca = when he looks
• olunca = when it happens / when it becomes

This suffix creates a kind of time clause.

Because Turkish often leaves subjects unstated when they are clear from context.

Here, dayım already tells you who is doing the coming. So there is no need to add a separate pronoun like he.

In English, you often need:

• when my uncle comes

In Turkish, the noun itself is enough:

• dayım gelince

Turkish avoids unnecessary pronouns much more than English does.

Because -ince is not a simple tense ending. It creates a subordinate time clause meaning when/once.

Even if the whole situation is in the future, Turkish commonly uses -ince in the time clause and puts the future marking only in the main clause:

• Dayım gelince birlikte çay içeceğiz.

Literally, it works like:

• My uncle when-comes / once-he-comes, we-will-drink tea together

This is very natural in Turkish. English also does something similar:

• When my uncle comes, we will drink tea together.

Notice that English says comes, not will come, in the when clause. Turkish behaves similarly here.

Birlikte means together.

It is an adverb, so it describes how the action happens:

• birlikte çay içeceğiz = we will drink tea together

Its placement is fairly natural here, before the object and the verb. Turkish word order is flexible, but this position sounds normal and clear.

You may also see similar adverbs in nearby positions depending on emphasis, but birlikte before the object is very common.

Because çay here is a bare indefinite object.

In Turkish, the accusative ending often appears when the direct object is specific or definite. A bare noun without the accusative can mean something more general or nonspecific.

So:

• çay içeceğiz = we will drink tea
• çayı içeceğiz = we will drink the tea / a specific tea

In this sentence, çay just means tea in a general sense, not a particular previously identified tea.

This is a very common pattern in Turkish.

It comes from:

• iç- = drink
• -ecek / -acak = future tense
• -iz = we

So the underlying structure is:

• iç + ecek + iz

This becomes içeceğiz.

A useful detail: the k in -ecek changes to ğ before the vowel in the personal ending:

• içecek + iz → içeceğiz

So içeceğiz means we will drink.

Because the verb ending already tells you that the subject is we.

In içeceğiz, the ending shows first person plural. So Turkish does not need a separate pronoun like biz unless you want emphasis or contrast.

So:

• içeceğiz = we will drink

You could say Biz içeceğiz, but that would usually sound unnecessary unless you want to stress we specifically.

The sentence uses a very typical Turkish order, but Turkish word order is more flexible than English.

This version is natural because:

• the time clause comes first: Dayım gelince
• the main clause ends with the verb: birlikte çay içeceğiz

So the overall pattern is:

• [time clause] + [other information] + [verb]

This fits the strong Turkish tendency to put the main verb at the end.

English usually says:

• When my uncle comes, we will drink tea together.

Turkish often prefers:

• Dayım gelince birlikte çay içeceğiz.

The meaning stays the same, but the sentence is organized in a more Turkish way.

Yes, sometimes.

-ince often means:

• when
• once
• upon
• sometimes as soon as

The exact nuance depends on context.

In this sentence, it most naturally means when my uncle comes or once my uncle comes. If the situation implies immediacy, English might translate it as as soon as my uncle comes.

So gelince is slightly broader than just one exact English word.