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Prerequisites for this Turkish Grammar Lesson
Ablative case: “from” in Turkish-dan/den/tan/ten
bundan, şundan, ondan
-dı/di/du/dü or -tı/ti/tu/tü
Asking yes or no questions
-acak/ecek
Handling irregular verbs
Asking yes or no questions
Pronouncing -acak/ecek
Saying “from now on” or “after that” with bundan/ondan sonra
One common way to connect two sentences in chronological order is to use the phrase, “bundan sonra” (after this / from now on) or, “ondan sonra” (after that). These phrases combine a pronoun (bu or o) with the ‑dan ablative case ending followed by the word “sonra,” which means “after.”
Once you’ve learned to form simple sentences in past, present and future tense, it is very easy to learn to use these two phrases, and you will find them useful in everyday life. To put them to use, simply say one sentence about something that happened, then start a second sentence with either “bundan sonra” or “ondan sonra.”
Example sentences*
İlkokula Yozgat’ta başladım. Ondan sonra İzmir’e geldik.
I started elementary school in Yozgat. After that we moved to Izmir.
Birkaç günlüğüne buradasın. Ondan sonra gideceksin.
You are here for a few days. After that, you will leave.
İnsanlar büyük bir dehşet yaşadı. Ondan sonra hayat değişti.
People experienced great horror. After that, life changed.
Merak etme. Güvendeyiz. Bundan sonra rahatız.
Don’t worry. We are safe. From now on, we are at ease.
Biz görevimizi yaptık. Bundan sonra da yapacağız.
We have done our duty. From now on, we will continue to do so.
Saying “after” an event with ‑dan sonra
Another way to talk about a sequence of events is to add the ‑dan ending onto a noun referring to a specific event or point in time, followed by the word “sonra.”
Grammar form
- (Noun) + dan/den/tan/ten sonra
Example sentences
O günden sonra hayatım degıstı.
After that day, my life changed.
Patlamadan sonra mutfakta yangın çıktı.
After the explosion, a fire broke out in the kitchen.
İkinci golden sonra biraz panik olduk.
After the second goal, we got a bit panicked.
Bunların hepsi ameliyattan sonra gerçekleşti.
All of these things happened after the surgery.
Saying “after” with ‑dıktan sonra
Another common way of connecting sentences in chronological order is by using a verb with the ‑dıktan sonra ending. This ending is made up of three parts: the ‑dık relative clause ending, the ‑tan/ten ablative case ending, and the word “sonra.”
Note: if you haven’t yet learned about the ‑dık relative clause ending, don’t worry, because the ‑dıktan sonra ending is more basic than the other uses of the ‑dık ending.
Grammar forms
- (Verb stem) + dık/dik/duk/dük + tan/ten sonra
- (Verb stem ending with ç, k, p, s, ş or t) + tık/tik/tuk/tük + tan/ten sonra
To use the ‑dıktan sonra ending with a verb, the first thing you need to do is to find the verb stem (e.g. the “yap” part of “yapmak”). Once you have the verb stem, you will add the ‑dık ending.
If the verb stem ends with a voiceless consonant (“ç,” “k,” “p,” “s,” “ş” or “t”), then the first letter of the ending will be “t.” Otherwise, the first letter will be “d.”
Next, you will add a vowel: “ı,” “i,” “u,” or “ü,” according to I-type vowel harmony with the verb stem. After that, you add “k.”
Next you add either ‑tan or ‑ten according to E-type vowel harmony. If the first part of the ending was ‑dık, ‑tık, ‑duk or ‑tuk, you will use the “a” vowel. For ‑dik, ‑tik, ‑dük and ‑tük, you will use the “e” vowel.
Finally, you add the word “sonra” followed by the rest of the sentence.
To begin with, let’s see a breakdown of all 8 possible variations of the ‑dıktan sonra ending on some of the most common Turkish verbs:
The 8 variations of ‑dıktan sonra on common verbs
| Turkish | English |
| Aldıktan sonra | After buying/getting |
| Geldikten sonra | After coming |
| Olduktan sonra | After happening/becoming |
| Döndükten sonra | After returning |
| Yaptıktan sonra | After doing/making |
| Çektikten sonra | After pulling |
| Konuştuktan sonra | After speaking |
| Düştükten sonra | After falling |
Example sentences
Mezun olduktan sonra avukatlığa başladı.
He/she started practicing law after graduating.
Her şeyi kontrol ettikten sonra tatile çıkarım.
I’ll go on vacation after checking everything.
Güreşi bıraktıktan sonra antrenörlük de yaptı.
He also coached after retiring from wrestling.
Oyuna girdikten sonra çok etkiliydi.
He/she was very effective after entering the game.
İstanbul’a indikten sonra babaannemi aradım.
I called my grandmother after landing in Istanbul.
İyileştikten sonra gezmek istiyorum.
I want to travel after recovering.
Ellerinizi ıslattıktan sonra iyice kurulayın.
Dry your hands thoroughly after wetting them.
Uçağa bindikten sonra rahatladık.
“We relaxed after boarding the plane.”
“Piştikten sonra üzerine maydanoz serpin.”
“Sprinkle parsley on it after it’s cooked.”
* Unless otherwise specified, all Turkish example sentences included in this lesson were retrieved from TS Corpus v2, a large corpus of Turkish texts compiled from various sources.
This lesson is a prerequisite for:
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