what is it?
Turkish has a set of formal conditional constructions — -DIğI takdirde, -mAsI hâlinde, and -mAsI durumunda — that carry the same logical meaning as the everyday conditional suffix -sA but belong firmly to written, official, and legal registers. You will encounter them in contracts, regulations, official correspondence, and formal announcements. They are not interchangeable with -sA in everyday speech.
when to use it
Written and official contexts. Use these forms in legal texts, administrative notices, formal letters, and academic writing where a neutral or elevated register is required.
Verb-clause conditions → -DIğI takdirde. Use this construction to say «in the event that X happens / has happened». The verb takes the -DIK participle plus a possessive suffix agreeing with the subject, followed by the postposition takdirde. Only -DIK is possible — never -AcAK — and a negative condition is expressed inside the verb: uyulmadığı takdirde «in the event of non-compliance».
Nominalized conditions → -mAsI hâlinde / durumunda. Use these to say «in the event of X»: verbal noun -mA + possessive + hâlinde or durumunda. The verbal noun can be affirmative or negative alike: ödeme yapılması hâlinde «in the event that payment is made», yapılmaması hâlinde «in the event that it is not made». The two postpositions are interchangeable; hâlinde is slightly more formal and more common in legal texts.
Register awareness. In conversation, use -sA instead. Deploying these formal constructions in casual speech sounds unnatural and overly bureaucratic.
formation
-DIğI takdirde
Attach the -DIK participle to the verb stem, then add a possessive suffix that agrees with the subject of the conditional clause, then add the postposition takdirde. The -DIK suffix follows standard four-way vowel harmony (-dık / -dik / -duk / -dük or -tık / -tik / -tuk / -tük after voiceless consonants). The -AcAK participle is never used with takdirde. A negative condition is expressed inside the verb: başvurulmadığı takdirde «in the event that no application is made».
| person | possessive on -DIK | full form (gel-) |
|---|---|---|
| 1st sg. | -DIğIm | geldiğim takdirde |
| 2nd sg. | -DIğIn | geldiğin takdirde |
| 3rd sg. | -DIğI | geldiği takdirde |
| 1st pl. | -DIğImIz | geldiğimiz takdirde |
| 2nd pl. | -DIğInIz | geldiğiniz takdirde |
| 3rd pl. | -DIklArI | geldikleri takdirde |
In practice, the third-person possessive form (-DIğI takdirde) is by far the most common in official texts, where the subject of the clause is a noun phrase rather than a pronoun.
-mAsI hâlinde / durumunda
Attach the verbal-noun suffix -mA to the verb stem, then a possessive suffix agreeing with the subject, then hâlinde or durumunda. The construction takes affirmative and negative verbal nouns alike; in the negative, the negation suffix -mA comes before the verbal-noun suffix: öde-me-me-si → ödememesi. The possessive suffix must never be dropped.
| form (öde- «to pay») | result | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| affirmative | ödemesi hâlinde | in the event that s/he pays |
| negative | ödememesi hâlinde | in the event that s/he does not pay |
| passive | ödenmesi hâlinde | in the event that it is paid |
| passive negative | ödenmemesi hâlinde | in the event that it is not paid |
| noun-based | (ödeme) gecikmesi hâlinde | in the event of late payment |
The third-person form (-mAsI hâlinde) dominates in written texts — official prose states conditions about events and noun phrases, not about «I» or «you». Other persons are formed with the matching possessive (ödemem hâlinde «in the event that I pay», ödememiz hâlinde «…that we pay») but are rare in practice. Both hâlinde and durumunda are locative-marked nouns («in the state / situation of») and function identically here.
examples in context
common pitfalls
Using -AcAK with takdirde. The -AcAK future/prospective participle does not combine with takdirde. Only -DIK is used. Write başvurduğunuz takdirde, not başvuracağınız takdirde.
Dropping the possessive on the -mA noun. The possessive suffix on the verbal noun is obligatory: write gecikmesi hâlinde, not *gecikme hâlinde. Omitting the possessive breaks the construction.
Using formal conditionals in casual speech. These constructions are register-marked. Saying geldiğin takdirde konuşuruz in everyday conversation sounds stiff and unnatural. In informal contexts, use the everyday conditional: gelirsen konuşuruz.