Turkish/Conjunctions

Conjunctions in Turkish are not used as commonly as in European languages. Almost all conjunctions in Turkish are of Arabic and Persian origin, with very few exceptions. Most of the time, using a conjunction sounds worse if it can be substituted with a converb. For example, the second of the following examples sound better than the first one:


 * Okula gitmedim çünkü hastaydım
 * Hasta olduğum için okula gitmedim

(Both mean I didn't go to school, because I was sick)

Some English conjunctions have no Turkish equivelant conjunction, and using a converb is sometimes mandatory.


 * Eve gidince yıkanacağım. I will take a bath as soon as I come home.

Logical conjunction
The cumulative sense of the English "A and B" can be expressed several ways:
 * A ve B (an Arabic borrowing);
 * B ile A (ile is also a postposition);
 * A, B de.

For the adversative sense of "but" or "only", there are ama and fakat (both Arabic), also yalnız (which is also an adjective corresponding to "alone").

For emphasis: hem A hem B "both A and B".

Logical disjunction
For the sense of English "(either)…or": The pattern of the last two can be extended:
 * A veya B;
 * ya A veya B;
 * ya A ya da B.
 * ya A ya B veya C;
 * ya A ya B ya da C.

Logical non-disjunction
NE ABD NE AB TAM BAĞIMSIZ DEMOKRATİK TÜRKİYE "Neither USA nor EU: Fully Independent Democratic Turkey" (slogan on placard at demonstration);
 * Ne A ne B "Neither A nor B":
 * Ne A ne B ne C "Not A or B or C."

Implication
Both çünkü and eğer are Persian; the latter is not generally needed, because the conditional form of the verb is available.
 * B, çünkü A "B, because A".
 * ((Eğer)) A'ysa, (o zaman) B'dir. "If A, then B." ("Eğer" is not generally used.)

The conjunction ki
The Persian conjunction ki brings to Turkish the Indo-European style of relating ideas ( [XIII,15]): Beklemesini istiyorum "Her-waiting I-desire"; but İstiyorum ki beklesin "I-desire that he-wait." Thus ki corresponds roughly to English "that", but with a broader sense: Güneş batmıştı ki köye vardık "The-sun had-set [when] that at-the-village we-arrived." Kirazı yedim ki şeker gibi "The-cherry I-ate [and found] that [it was] sugar like." The following is from a newspaper:             "Vahdettin ne yazık ki haindi" ''...Bu iki açıklamadan anlıyoruz ki Ecevit, Osmanlı Tarihi adlı bir kitap hazırlıyormuş... Vahdettin, Tevfik Paşa ve Londra Konferansı hakkındaki açıklamaları gösteriyor ki Sayın Ecevit, yakın tarihimizi ciddi olarak incelememiş, bu konudaki güvenilir araştırmaları ve sağlam belgeleri görmemiş... Diyor ki: "Benim şahsen çocukluğumdan beri dinlediğim şeyler var..."''

"...From these two accounts, we understand that Ecevit is preparing a book called Ottoman History... His accounts concerning Vahdettin, Tevfik Pasha and the London Conference show that  Mr Ecevit has not seriously studied our recent history,  has not seen trustworthy research and sound documentation on this subject... He says that:  "'There are many things I heard personally from my childhood till today...'" (Source: Cumhuriyet 19 July 2005.)