Tesadüfen

Tesadüfen is a Turkish adverb meaning by chance or accidentally. It describes events that occur without intention or planning, often conveying a sense of a surprising or fortunate coincidence. It is used to indicate that something happened without deliberate action, similar to but more specific than rastgele or şans eseri.

Etymology: The adverb is derived from the Turkish noun tesadüf, which means coincidence or happenstance. The adverbial form is created by adding the suffix -en to the noun, yielding tesadüfen, meaning “by coincidence.” The noun tesadüf itself has roots in Turkish from Arabic, reflecting historical linguistic contact.

Usage: Tesadüfen is versatile and can appear in both informal and formal contexts. It often modifies verbs, as in “tesadüfen gördüm” (I saw [him] by chance) or “tesadüfen oldu” (it happened by coincidence). It can also be used in clauses such as “Bir gün tesadüfen karşılaştık” (One day we ran into each other by chance). Common near-synonyms include rastgele (randomly) and şans eseri (by luck), though tesadüfen emphasizes lack of intentionality rather than randomness or luck alone.

See also: tesadüf (coincidence); rastlantı (occurrence); rastgele (randomly).