Conditional & wish: -sA / -sAydI / -(y)sA

Turkish uses three related but distinct conditional/wish forms built on the same root suffix -sA. Verbal -sA attaches to a verb stem to express a hypothetical or wish about the present or future. Adding the past copula -ydI gives -sAydI, which marks a past counterfactual — something that did not happen. Copular -(y)sA attaches to a noun, adjective, or postpositional phrase (via the copula) to form a real, open condition — equivalent to English «if it is…». The particle keşke is used before -sA or -sAydI clauses to signal that the speaker is expressing a wish or regret rather than a neutral hypothesis.

• Present/future wish or hypothesis (-sA): Use verbal -sA when the condition is contrary to the current state of affairs, or when you want to express a wish about something that is not (yet) true. The main clause typically uses the aorist conditional (-Ir/-Irdı) or a volitional form.

• Past counterfactual (-sAydI): Use -sAydI when the condition refers to something that did not happen in the past. The main clause uses the conditional past (-IrdI or -mIş olurdu).

• Real/open condition (-(y)sA): Use copular -(y)sA when the condition is genuinely open — the speaker does not know whether it is true or false. This form attaches to nouns, adjectives, or other predicative elements, not to a verb stem.

• Wishes and regrets (keşke + -sA / -sAydI): Place keşke at the start of the clause to signal emotional investment — longing for something untrue now (-sA) or regret about the past (-sAydI). Without keşke, the same -sA clause reads as a neutral hypothesis.

All three forms follow vowel harmony. The suffix vowel alternates between e and a according to the last vowel of the stem (front vowels → -se/-seydim; back vowels → -sa/-saydım). Person markers are added after the suffix.

Verbal -sA: verb stem + -sA + person marker. For gelmek (to come) and almak (to take/buy):

Verbal -sAydI: verb stem + -sA + ydI + person marker (the past copula -ydI is inserted between the conditional suffix and the person ending):

Copular -(y)sA: nominal/adjectival predicate + -(y)sA + person marker. The buffer consonant -y- appears when the predicate ends in a vowel. Example with güzel (nice/beautiful) and hasta (ill/sick):

• Wrong main-clause tense with -sA. A -sA if-clause requires a conditional main clause, typically the aorist conditional -Irdı. Learners sometimes use a plain present or future tense instead. Compare the error «Param olsa, bir ev alacağım» (I will buy a house) with the correct «Param olsa, bir ev alırdım» (I would buy a house). The future -AcAğım treats the condition as real; -Irdı correctly marks it as hypothetical.

• Using -(y)sA where -sAydI is needed. When the situation is clearly in the past and did not happen, -sAydI is required. Saying «Vaktim olsa, geldim» is ill-formed: the past verb geldim clashes with the present-hypothetical -sA. Use «Vaktim olsaydı, gelirdim» for a past counterfactual.

• Dropping keşke turns a wish into a neutral condition. «Burada olsa» on its own means «if he is/were here» — a neutral hypothesis. Adding keşke — «Keşke burada olsa» — signals that the speaker wishes it were true. Without keşke, the emotional meaning of longing or regret is lost entirely.