1. Why Is -dan önce / -dan sonra (before/after something) Used?
In Turkish, the phrases “-dan önce/ -dan sonra” are used for two consecutive cases. These structure means before/after (something). Instead of forming 2 different sentences for 2 different situations, we can combine sentences in just 1 sentence by using these structures. I will give you some situations and explain structures with these situations.
Now let’s combine sentences on just a one sentence and indicate which one before or after. And there is point that you shouldn’t forget. We don’t use the verb with phrase -dan sonra/-dan önce. It’s enough to use just the noun.
Let’s try to understand it thoroughly by examining the example sentences above.
- “Önce” means before, “sonra” means after. You also see -dan suffix with words. You can think that this suffix also serves to combine 2 sentences.
- We didn’t use the verb (aldım/had) with -dan sonra and -dan önce, there is just a noun (duş/shower) > duştan sonra
- You see the suffix end of the word duş has a changed. It was -dan normally but became -tan after combine with duş. So the first letter can be “d” or “t”. This is because of consonant harmony. If you wanna know more about turkish consonant harmony click here to read lesson.
Now remember this rule shortly. If a word end with one of these letters: “f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p” and if the suffix come end of the word one of these letters: “d, c” so the first letter of suffix changes. d becomes “t” and c becomes “ç”. You see the last letter of duş is “ş” and first letter of suffix (-dan) “d”. That’s why change the first letter of suffix with “t”.
- There is a last thing you should know about this structure. The vowel in the suffix (-dan) also can change according to vowel harmony.
If the last vowel of the word is “a, ı, o, u” the suffix will be -dan (-dan sonra, -dan önce). If the last vowel of the word is “e, i, ö, ü” the suffix will be -den (-den sonra, -den önce)
KEEP IT IN MIND!
The suffix of this structure can be -dan, -tan, -den, ten according to consonant and vowel harmonies.
2. Sample Sentences
- Yağmurdan önce yürüyüşe çıktım. (I went for a walk before the rain.)
- Yağmurdan sonra eve koştum. (I ran home after the rain.)
- Kahvaltıdan önce kahve içtim. (I drank coffee before breakfast.)
- Kahvaltıdan sonra kitap okudum. (I read a book after breakfast.)
- Maçtan önce ısınma hareketleri yaptım. (I did warm-up exercises before the match.)
- Maçtan sonra içecek içtim. (I had a drink after the match.)
- Savaştan önce ülkemiz daha huzurluydu. (Our country was more peaceful before the war.)
- Savaştan sonra ekonomik kriz başladı. (The economic crisis began after the war,.)
- Partiden önce alışveriş yaptım. (I shopped before the party)
- Partiden sonra evi temizledim. (I cleaned the house after the party.)
- Düğünden önce harika bir elbise aldım. (I bought a wonderful dress before the wedding.)
- Düğünden sonra elbisemi sattım. (I sold my dress after the wedding.)
- Ekonomik krizden önce her şey daha ucuzdu. (Everything was cheaper before the economic crisis.)
- Ekonomik krizden sonra her şeye zam geldi. (Everything got a raise after the economic crisis.)
- Yemekten önce ellerimi yıkadım. (I washed my hands before food.)
- Yemekten sonra dişlerimi fırçaladım. (I brushed my teeth after dinner.)
- Gripten önce çok sağlıksız besleniyordum. (I was eating very unhealthy before the flu.)
- Gripten sonra aşı işe yaramadı. (The vaccine didn’t work after the flu.)
- Mezuniyetten önce Türkçeyi öğrendim. (I learned Turkish before graduation.)
- Mezuniyetten sonra iş buldum. (I got a job after graduation.)
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