what is it?
Turkish has two converb constructions that anchor a time span to a past action: -(y)AlI (e.g. geleli, «since coming») and -DIğIndAn beri (e.g. geldiğimden beri, «since I came»). Both mean «since doing [something]» and measure time elapsed from a verbal event up to the present. They are verbal constructions and must not be confused with the nominal postposition -DEn beri (A1), which attaches to nouns and time expressions such as sabahtan beri («since morning»).
when to use it
Measuring elapsed time from an action. Use either form when the starting point of a time span is itself a verb (an event or action), not a clock time or calendar word.
-(y)AlI — compact, subject-shared clauses. This suffix is most natural when the subject of the «since» clause is the same as the main clause subject, or when the context makes the subject clear. It carries no overt person marking, so it is shorter and more colloquial.
-DIğIndAn beri — explicit person marking. This form uses the verbal noun -DIk plus a possessive suffix plus the ablative -dAn plus beri. Because the possessive encodes person, it can clearly express a subject different from the main clause subject.
Main clause tense. The main clause typically uses the present continuous, present perfect, or aorist to describe a state or habit that has held since the starting event.
formation
-(y)AlI attaches directly to the verb stem. The buffer consonant y is inserted when the stem ends in a vowel. The vowel in the suffix follows four-way vowel harmony (A = a/e).
| stem | -(y)AlI form | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| gel- | geleli | since coming / since (I/you/…) came |
| git- | gideli | since going |
| taşın- | taşınalı | since moving |
| oku- | okuyalı | since reading / since starting to read |
| gör- | göreli | since seeing |
-DIğIndAn beri is built in three steps: verbal noun suffix -DIk + possessive suffix (agreeing with the subject of the «since» clause) + ablative -dAn + beri. The -DIk suffix follows four-way vowel harmony and consonant mutation (D = d/t).
| person | possessive on -DIk | full form (gör-) | meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st sg. | -Im | gördüğümden beri | since I saw |
| 2nd sg. | -In | gördüğünden beri | since you saw |
| 3rd sg. | -I (n-buffer) | gördüğünden beri | since he/she/it saw |
| 1st pl. | -ImIz | gördüğümüzden beri | since we saw |
| 2nd pl. | -InIz | gördüğünüzden beri | since you (pl.) saw |
| 3rd pl. | -lArI | gördüklerinden beri | since they saw |
Note that 2nd singular and 3rd singular produce identical surface forms (gördüğünden beri). Context or an explicit pronoun disambiguates.
examples in context
common pitfalls
Attaching nominal -DEn beri directly to a bare verb.
Nominal -DEn beri requires a noun or time word, not a verb stem. Writing ★geldenden beri is ungrammatical. To attach «since» to a verb, you must use either -(y)AlI or -DIğIndAn beri.
Wrong possessive agreement on -DIğIndAn beri.
The possessive suffix on -DIk must agree with the subject of the «since» clause, not the main clause subject. For example, «since you came» is geldiğinden beri (2nd sg. -in), not ★geldiğimden beri (which would mean «since I came»). A mismatch shifts the meaning to a different person entirely.
Confusing -(y)AlI with the optative -(y)AlIm / -(y)AlI.
The optative suffix -(y)AlIm (1st pl. «let's…») and the 3rd person optative -(y)AlI look similar to the converb. The key distinction is syntactic position and meaning: the converb -(y)AlI heads a time clause and is followed by a main clause, whereas the optative ends the sentence or clause as a mood form. Compare gidelim («let's go», optative) with gideli iki yıl oldu («it has been two years since going», converb).