saylabilirken

Sayılabilirken is a Turkish grammatical form used to introduce an adverbial clause signaling time, roughly translating as “while it can be counted” or “as long as it can be counted.” The form is built from sayılabilir, the adjective meaning “countable” or “able to be counted,” together with the temporal clause suffix ken. In standard Turkish, the spelling is sayılabilirken; the form saylabilirken is a common nonstandard or simplified variant.

Morphology and formation: The base is say- (to count). The suffix -ıl- creates a passive stem, yielding sayıl-. The affix -abilir expresses potential, giving sayılabilir (“countable” or “able to be counted”). The entire unit plus -ken yields sayılabilirken, an adverbial clause meaning “while it can be counted.” The form illustrates how Turkish combines a property adjective with a temporal clause marker to express simultaneous action or state.

Usage and constraints: Sayılabilirken appears mainly in descriptive grammar, linguistic analyses, or formal writing to illustrate clause structure. The subject of the -ken clause is usually the same as the main clause or is recoverable from context. Tense and aspect within the -ken clause are not independently conjugated in the same way as the main clause; they are understood from the surrounding sentence. It contrasts with other Turkish adverbial clauses that express time or condition.

Examples:

- Turkish: Sayılabilirken, bu nesnenin miktarı dikkatle sayılmalıdır. (While this object can be counted, its quantity should be counted carefully.)

- Turkish: Sayılabilirken, karşılaştırılan veriler aynı ölçü biriminde olmalıdır. (While the data being compared is countable, the figures must be in the same unit.)

See also: Turkish grammar, ken clauses, sayılabilir.