EL/YA/DALRESEARCH LABORATORY
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Writing · From the archive

How to write ya da in Turkish: rule, examples and archive

The Turkish conjunction ya da is written as two words. Keep a space when using it to offer alternatives.

The short answer: keep the space

The Turkish Language Association’s spelling guide explicitly treats da used with ya as separate. For the conjunction offering alternatives, ya da is the correct spelling; yada is not the spelling for that use. This guide does not classify every matching name or expression in another language as an error.

Correctya ␣ da

Incorrect for this conjunctionyada

Try it in a sentence

These sentences were written for this guide. The English translations explain the alternatives; they are not quotations from the historical campaign.

  • Toplantıyı salı ya da perşembe yapabiliriz. — We can hold the meeting on Tuesday or Thursday.
  • Notlarını deftere ya da bilgisayara yaz. — Write your notes in a notebook or on a computer.
  • Sonucu bir tabloyla ya da kısa bir metinle anlat. — Explain the result with a table or a short text.
“Kaynağı şimdi yada yarın okuyabilirsin.” Reveal the correction

The sentence offers two times. Write Kaynağı şimdi ya da yarın okuyabilirsin. This means: you can read the source now or tomorrow. The correction separates the conjunction while keeping both alternatives.

Three checks before publishing

  1. Identify the function. Is the expression connecting alternatives? That is the use covered here.
  2. Check the space. Keep the two words apart and make sure autocorrect has not joined them.
  3. Read the context again. Review names, quotations and passages in other languages individually before using a document-wide replacement.

This small check does not establish that the rest of a text is correct. An academic draft still needs a separate review of its references, clarity and account of the methods.

The campaign in the 2004 archive

A Wayback capture dated 10 March 2004 preserves an ELYADAL page drawing attention to the spelling of ya da. It invited visitors to reuse a campaign badge and link to the historical /ya_da.htm address. The178×48 pixel badge below is an unchanged copy of that historical file.

Historical ELYADAL badge promoting the separate spelling ya da, in Turkish
A campaign badge from the 2004 archive; it does not announce a current campaign or current supporters.

This guide is newly written. Names, contacts and counters on the archived page have not been reproduced as current memberships, partnerships or visitor statistics. The historical campaign and the present spelling rule are supported by separate sources.

Sources and scope

TDK: the current spelling rule, in Turkish. Wayback: the campaign’s 2004 record; this historical capture alone does not establish a current rule.

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