what is it?
Turkish has two closely related structures for expressing duration: süresince, a postposition meaning «throughout» or «during the whole of», which attaches directly to a bare noun; and -DIğI sürece, a converb meaning «as long as», which attaches to a verb stem via the participial suffix -DIK. Both are formal alternatives to the more common boyunca, but they are not interchangeable with each other: süresince takes a noun, while -DIğI sürece takes a verb.
when to use it
süresince after a noun — use it when the time frame is a noun phrase (an event, a period, an absence). It signals that something held true for the entire span of that noun. It is more formal than boyunca and is common in written and official registers.
-DIğI sürece after a verb — use it when the condition is expressed as a verb clause: «as long as [subject] does/is X». The meaning is conditional-durational: the main clause holds for precisely as long as the subordinate clause remains true.
register — both forms are neutral-to-formal. In everyday speech, boyunca (for nouns) and -DIğI müddetçe (a synonym for the verb form) are also heard, but süresince and -DIğI sürece are fully standard at B2 and above.
formation
süresince is an uninflected postposition. Place it directly after the noun in its bare (nominative) form — no case suffix, no possessive.
[bare noun] + süresince
konferans süresince · yokluk süresince · savaş süresince
-DIğI sürece is built in two steps. First, add the participial suffix -DIK (with vowel harmony: -dık / -dik / -duk / -dük or their voiceless variants -tık / -tik / -tuk / -tük) to the verb stem, then add the personal possessive suffix for the subject of the subordinate clause, and finally attach the frozen postposition sürece (which is süre + dative -ce in its lexicalised form).
[verb stem] + -DIK + [possessive] + sürece
The table below shows the full set of personal forms for the verb yaşa- («to live»).
| person | form | meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 1st sg. | yaşadığım sürece | as long as I live |
| 2nd sg. | yaşadığın sürece | as long as you live |
| 3rd sg. | yaşadığı sürece | as long as he/she lives |
| 1st pl. | yaşadığımız sürece | as long as we live |
| 2nd pl. | yaşadığınız sürece | as long as you (pl.) live |
| 3rd pl. | yaşadıkları sürece | as long as they live |
The participial suffix is always -DIK, never -AcAK. Even when the meaning is future-oriented («as long as I live» refers to the future), Turkish grammar requires the -DIK participle in this construction.
examples in context
common pitfalls
Adding a case suffix before süresince. The noun that precedes süresince must be in the bare (nominative) form. Do not add a dative, locative, or any other case ending.
✗ yıla süresince → ✓ yıl süresince
Using boyunca or süresince directly on a verb participle. When the time frame is expressed by a verb, you need the converb -DIğI sürece, not the postposition boyunca or süresince tacked onto a participle.
✗ yaşadığım boyunca → ✓ yaşadığım sürece
Using -AcAK instead of -DIK in the converb. Learners sometimes reach for the future participle -AcAK because the meaning feels future-oriented. Turkish does not allow this: the construction is fixed with -DIK regardless of the time reference of the main clause.
✗ yaşayacağım sürece → ✓ yaşadığım sürece