giderken

Giderken is a Turkish adverbial participle meaning “while going” or “on the way.” It is formed by adding the suffix -ken to the stem of the verb gider (to go), yielding giderken. The word introduces a dependent clause that describes a time frame or background circumstance for the main action, indicating that something happened during the act of going.

In usage, giderken describes actions that occur simultaneously with the main verb, or describes circumstances along the way to a destination. It can align with different tenses in the main clause, including past and present. The construction is common in narrative and everyday Turkish, and it often appears at the start or in the middle of a sentence, separated by a comma when used as a prefatory clause.

Examples:

- Giderken yağmur yağıyordu. (It was raining while I was going.)

- Giderken bana haber geldi. (News came to me on the way.)

- Giderken anahtarımı unuttum. (I forgot my keys while leaving.)

- Giderken bir arkadaşımla karşılaştım. (I ran into a friend on the way.)

The -ken suffix is a general Turkish device to form adverbial participles from verb stems. Many verbs can take -ken to express “doing X while Y,” producing constructions such as bakarken (while looking), okumarken (while reading), and yürürken (while walking). Giderken thus exemplifies a broader pattern of temporal adjuncts used to frame actions in Turkish discourse.