# işe başlamadan haberle bakıyordum



## James Bates

I asked a Turk, "Sende ne var ne yok?" to which he replied, "İşe başlamadan haberle bakıyordum."

Could somebody translate it for me? I'm guessing it means something like, "Without starting work..."

Teşekkür ederim!


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## Asr

watching/ looking at the news before starting to work.

You are most welcome!


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## aslan

James Bates said:


> I asked a Turk, "Sende ne var ne yok?" to which he replied, "İşe başlamadan haberlere bakıyordum."


"I was scanning the news, before I start to work"

Like many people (including me) looking  over the news is kind of a habit, before begining to work, That s what s/he wants to imply.


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## James Bates

Asr said:


> watching/ looking at the news before starting to work.


But then it should have been "işe başlamadan evvel", shouldn't it?


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## Asr

No, it is not necessary. With or without evvel/önce, your sentence means the same thing.


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## James Bates

Thanks! It's just that my Turkish book says that [verb stem] + madan means "without" whereas [verb stem] + madan evvel means "before". E.g.

Koşmadan evvel, Bob '....' dedi.
Before running Bob said '....'.


Koşmadan yetişemeyiz.
We won't be able to make it without running.


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## Asr

James Bates said:


> Thanks! It's just that my Turkish book says that [verb stem] + madan means "without" whereas [verb stem] + madan evvel means "before". E.g.
> 
> *1* Koşmadan evvel, Bob '....' dedi.
> Before running Bob said '....'.
> 
> 
> *2* Koşmadan yetişemeyiz.
> We won't be able to make it without running.


 
Not bad. You can use evvel/önce to be safe for the first meaning. 
However, it is not always necessary since it is implied.

you can think of it as:
İşe başlamadan; without having started to work-- since he hasn't started to work yet, "before" is implied there.

Yemeğe oturmadan (önce) ellerini yıka.
Wash your hands before sitting at the table. 

Hope this helps.


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## James Bates

It sure does. Thanks!


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