“-madan önce / -dıktan sonra” Structure In Turkish (… after … / … before …)

In Turkish, the phrases “-madan önce / -dıktan sonra” are used for two consecutive cases. These structure means before/after (do something). Instead of forming 2 different sentences for 2 different situations, we can combine sentences in just 1 sentence by using these structures. In a past lesson i told you how do we use “before and after (something)”  in a sentence. You can read it again by clicking here. In this lesson i will show you how do we use “before / after (doing something)” in the sentence. Don’t confuse, this two structure mean same. Just pay attention to use in right place. Let’s look at some examples:

1. Kahvaltıdan önce ellerimi yıkadım. (I washed my hands before breakfast.) > noun+dan önce
2. Kahvaltı etmeden önce ellerimi yıkadım. (I washed my hands before had breakfast.) > verb+madan önce

1. Kahvaltıdan sonra dişlerimi fırçaladım. (I brushed my teeth after breakfast.) > noun+dan sonra
2. Kahvaltı ettikten sonra dişlerimi fırçaladım. (I brushed my teeth after had breakfast.) > verb+dıktan sonra

Rules

• The vowel in the suffix changes according to 2 way vowel harmony. If the last vowel of the word is “a, ı, o  or  u” the suffix will be -madan (-madan önce). If the last vowel of the word is “e, i, ö  or  ü” the suffix will be -meden (-meden önce).
• Other suffix can take 4 different forms according to vowel harmony. (-dıktan sonra, -dikten sonra, -duktan sonra, -dükten sonra). That’s why we have to check 4 way vowel harmony. If the last vowel of word before suffix is “a  or  ı” in this case first vowel of suffix must contain “ı” (-dıktan sonra). If the last vowel of word before suffix is “e or i” first vowel of suffix must contain “i” (-dikten sonra). If the last vowel of word before suffix is “ö  or  ü” first vowel of suffix must contain “ü” (-dükten sonra). If the last vowel of word before suffix is “o  or  u” first vowel of suffix must contain “u” (-duktan sonra).
•  There is also a rule (consonant harmony) you should keep in your mind. You know “-dıktan” is a suffix in the phrase “-dıktan sonra”. This suffix stars with letter “d“. Remember if a suffix start with “d” and last letter of the word (letter before suffix) is “f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h or p”, this letter will changes “d” into the “t”:  d>t ( f /s /t/ k/ ç/ ş/ h/ p + t…). So if last letter of word is f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h or p; suffix will start with “t” (-tıktan sonra, -tikten sonra, –tuktan sonra, -tükten sonra).

Example Sentences

Durakta on beş dakika bekledikten sonra otobüs geldi. (After waiting for fifteen minutes, the bus arrived.)

Otobüsten indikten sonra arkadaşlarıyla buluştu. (After getting off the bus, he met his friends.)

Derse girmeden önce arkadaşlarıyla birlikte kantine gitti. (Before entering the class, he went to the canteen with his friends.)

Dersten çıktıktan sonra sınava girdi. (After leaving the class, he took the exam.)

Sınava girmeden önce biraz heyecanlıydı. (He was a little excited before taking the test.)

Sınavdan çıktıktan sonra eve geldi. (He came home after passing the test.)

Ödevlerini yapmadan önce biraz dinlendi. (He rested for a while before doing his homework.)

Dinlendikten sonra ödevlerini yaptı ve dışarı çıktı. (After resting, he did his homework and went out.)

Arkadaşlarıyla futbol oynadıktan sonra eve döndü. (He returned home after playing football with his friends.)

Yemek yemeden önce banyo yaptı. (He took a bath before eating.)

Banyo yaptıktan sonra yemek yedi. (He ate after taking a bath.)

Yemek yedikten sonra kitap okudu. (After eating, he read a book.)

Kitap okuduktan sonra uyudu. (He fell asleep after reading the book.)

 

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