When: -ганда

In English, we use the word "when" to link two parts of a sentence: "When I got home, everyone was asleep" or "When it rains, we'll stay inside."

In Kyrgyz, you don't need a separate connecting word. All the temporal magic is built right into the verb using the special suffix -ганда.

🧠 Logic

This form consists of two parts:

-ган: turns the verb into a participle (one who has done / is doing)
-да: the locative case ending (Where? In whom? In what?)

Put them together and you get a construction that literally means: "At the moment of doing."

Кел- (to come) → келген (one who came) → келгенде (at the moment of coming / when [someone] came)

келгенде
кел
root
ген
participle
де
locative case
→ when [someone] came

🧮 Formula

Verb stem + suffix -ган-ген-гон-гөн-кан-кен-кон-көн + case ending -да-де-до-дө

The -ган suffix — chosen according to vowel harmony:

After vowels and voiced consonants: -ган/-ген/-гон/-гөн
After voiceless consonants: -кан/-кен/-кон/-көн

The case ending — always -да/-де/-до/-дө, because the participle suffix always ends in the voiced -н.

💡 Examples: Linking events

Note: to show who is performing the action, you simply place the relevant pronoun or name before the verb.

Root	Example	Translation
кел- (to come)	Мен келгенде, ал уктап жаткан.	When I arrived, he was sleeping.
жаа- (to fall, of precipitation)	Жамгыр жааганда, биз үйдө болобуз.	When it rains, we'll be at home.
көр- (to see)	Аны көргөндө, мен сүйүнүп кеттим.	When I saw him, I was overjoyed.
укта- (to sleep)	Сен уктап жатканда, мен иштедим.	While you were sleeping, I was working.

In the last example, -ганда is attached to the auxiliary verb жат-.

⚠️ Important notes

КАЧАН vs. -ГАНДА

A common mistake is trying to translate English "when" with качан. But качан is a question word — it's only used in questions:

Качан келесиң? — When will you come?

When you're stating a fact or telling a story, you need the -ганда construction:

❌ Incorrect	✅ Correct
~~Качан мен келдим, ал уктап жаткан.~~	Мен келгенде, ал уктап жаткан.

-ганда is timeless

The -ганда form doesn't set the tense of the sentence on its own — tense is determined by the main verb. This means the same form can be used for both past and future:

Example	Tense	Translation
Мен келгенде, ал чай ичти.	Past	When I came, he was drinking tea.
Мен келгенде, ал чай ичет.	Future	When I come, he'll be drinking tea.

Form with a possessive suffix

You'll sometimes come across forms like келгенимде or барганыңда. This is the same construction, but a possessive suffix is inserted between the participle stem and the locative case ending.

келгенимде
кел
root
ген
participle
им
possessive "my"
де
locative case
→ when I came

Мен келгенде and келгенимде mean the same thing: "when I came." Feel free to use the shorter form!

See also:

Introduction to verbs — the concept of stems and conjugation
Participle — how -ган is formed
Locative case — the -да ending
Possessive suffixes — келгенимде
Vowel harmony — choosing the vowel in the suffix
Sound assimilation — -ган/-кан
Before (-ганга чейин) — other temporal connectives
After (-гандан кийин) — other temporal connectives

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