korkudan

Korkudan is a Turkish adverbial form meaning “from fear” or “out of fear.” It is created from the noun korku (fear) plus the ablative suffix -dan (or -den after vowel harmony), and it functions to indicate the motive or cause behind an action rather than describing the action itself.

In usage, korkudan modifies the following verb, explaining why something happens. Common constructions include sentences like “Korkudan kaçtı” (He ran away out of fear) or “Korkudan ağladı” (She cried out of fear). It can also appear before a clause to explain a result, as in “Korkudan toplantı iptal edildi” (The meeting was canceled due to fear). The form is versatile and frequent in both spoken and written Turkish.

Korkudan contrasts with korkuyla (with fear) or with more explicit possessive phrases such as korkusundan (“from his/her/its fear”). Korkudan expresses the cause itself, while korkuyla emphasizes the accompanying emotion or manner. The possessive variant korkusundan specifies whose fear is involved, e.g., “akrabalarının korkusundan” (from the fear of their relatives).

In Turkish phonology, the form follows standard vowel harmony rules: korku + -dan becomes korkudan after a back vowel, and korkuden would be used with front vowels in other contexts. The term is a productive pattern in Turkic languages, with closely related forms in neighboring languages such as Azerbaijani (where qorxudan serves a similar function).

Korkudan is a simple, neutral linguistic tool for expressing causal motivation in Turkish sentences.