# 3 ways of saying "As soon as" in Turkish



## jbionic2010

Do all three below sentences have exactly the same meaning?
- Mektubunu alır almaz cevap yazdım
- Mektubunu alarak cevap yazdım
- Mektubunu alıkça cevap yazdım

Are there any implied subtle differences?


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## jbionic2010

Actually there is the 4th way of saying..
- Mektubunu aldığım anda bir cevap yazdım


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## analeeh

I think for the fourth one you mean _alınca_.

I think the difference between them is something like:

As soon as I got the letter...
Having received the letter (and this one I'm not 100% sure of, since _-arak_ normally means 'by Xing', although sometimes it has a temporal meaning - I think this might risk being read as 'taking his letter, I wrote a response')
When I got the letter...
The moment I got the letter...

That is, they're alternative constructions (with the possible exception of 2) with basically pretty similar meaning.


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## jbionic2010

> I think for the fourth one you mean _alınca_.



This is what Google translate says if you insert <As soon as I received your letter I wrote an answer> and then hit the button in order to translate this in Turkish

I agree on -inca, although my understanding is that it is more like "when". Otherwise you can also add
- Mektubunu alırken cevap yazdım
which is also a simultaneous action, perhaps the last example is more similar to <Mektubunu alarak cevap yazdım>, if I am not mistaken


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## analeeh

Edit: sorry, I meant the *third* one (_alıkça_). _aldıkça _means something else entirely.

_alırken_ wouldn't work here I'm fairly sure since _-ırken_ indicates simultaneous action, as you say. 'While taking/receiving his letter, I responded' is nonsensical.


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## Rallino

I don't think alarak is possible in this context at all.

_Alır almaz_ and _aldığım anda_ are pretty much the same.

Alternatively, _mektubunu *aldığım gibi* cevap yazdım _is a common construction.

For the rest, I second analeeh.


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## razanasksalot

please explain the 

-ir -mez suffix


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## shafaq

razanasksalot said:


> please explain the
> 
> -ir -mez suffix


(verb stem)+ir (verb stem)+ez ... 
 as soon as ......     ...  إثر ما

GELir GELmez = as soon as you come = إثر ما تجى أو  إثر ما جئت

I hope that is what you ask...


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## Lighting97

jbionic2010 said:


> Do all three below sentences have exactly the same meaning?
> - Mektubunu alır almaz cevap yazdım
> - Mektubunu alarak cevap yazdım
> - Mektubunu alıkça cevap yazdım
> 
> Are there any implied subtle differences?


the first one is completely correct one, if you mean ''as soon as''
And also the second one may be acceptable but the last that you wrote is wrong.


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