A Stall at the street market in Eastern Turkey

The Past Tenses in Turkish - Here we describe formation and usage of the Past Perfect and Past Imperfect together with the Simple Past and Future Past Tenses... and we note that the the Past Tense Sign in Turkish is characterised by the Voiced letter -d- or its UnVoiced Equivalent -t-..

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The Past Tense

Was it seen..? or Was it heard...?

The Definite Past Tenses

There are two Past Tenses in Turkish. The - "Seen Tenses" - are used when you have personal knowledge and witness of the action and are Definite Past Tenses. These past tenses are like the English Past Perfect Tense - I have made it
the Past Simple Tense - I made it
the Past Imperfect Tense (Past Continuous) - I was making it
the Past Pluperfect Tense - I had made it.

The Indefinite Past Tenses

The - "Heard Tenses" - are used to transfer information that you have not actually seen yourself by inference an as such are Definite Past Tenses. We do not have an Inferential Tense as such in English (actually not many languages have on either) So we have to get the idea on inference over by other means. We do this automatically and just a few of the ways are as follow:
I think that I went out.. - doubt
Presumably you have left.. - possibility
He has left as far as I know.. - reportative
I think that we left at.. - uncertainty
They say that you went out.. - hearsay
Its pretty sure that they have left.. - probability

All the examples above show that this tense is used whenever the speaker has not been an eyewitness to the past events.
The Inferential Tense used for reporting and unwitnessed events, or implying possibility, doubt or uncertainty. It is often used in telling jokes as the content of the joke is just a story.

The Inferential Tense is discussed in depth on the next page: About the Inferential

Formation Overview of the Past Tenses

Here are most of the past tenses in general use in daily Turkish.

Definite Past Tenses:

The Sign of the Definite Past is the addition of the suffix -di-/-ti-, -dı-/-tı-, -dü-/-tü-, -du-/-tu- - according to Vowel harmony and Consonant Mutation Rules, to which the Personal suffixes are added.

1. Continuous Past: Geliyordum - I was coming
2. Simple Past: Gelirdim - I used to come
3. Future Past (Future in the Past): Gelecektim - I was going to come
4. Pluperfect (Past in the Past): Gelmiştim - I had come
5. Necessitative Past (Obligation in the Past): Gelmeliydim - I had to come
6. Conditional Past: Gelseydim - If only I had come

Indefinite Past(Inferential) Tenses:

The Sign of the Indefinite (Inferential) Past is the addition of the suffix -miş-, -mış-, -müş-, -muş- - according to Vowel harmony and Consonant Mutation Rules, to which the Past Tense Personal suffixes are added.

1. Continuous Inferential: Geliyormuşum - It seems (they say) I am coming
2. Future Inferential: Gelecekmişim - It seems I shall come
3. Simple Inferential: Gelirmişim - It seems I come
4. Necessitative Inferential: Gelmeliymişim - They say I must come

Definite Past Tense - Examples

This Tense Sign is -di- or -ti-

- The suffixes - -dı-, -di-, -du-, -dü- or -tı-, -ti-, -tu-, -tü- - and the personal ending are added to the verb stem, in all cases Vowel harmony and Consonant Mutation rules are applied (see panel on right of page for a reminder on these rules..)

Indefinite Past Tense - Examples

This Tense Sign is -miş-

- The suffixes - -miş-, -mış-, -müş-, -muş- - and the personal ending are added to the verb stem, in all cases Vowel harmony and Consonant Mutation rules are applied (see panel on right of page for a reminder on these rules..)

Note: - To give the sense of inference in these tabulated examples we have used the form - "must have.." as this is a usual way of showing that there is a doubt in what we are saying.
Of course as we have shown previously there are many ways of modifiying our speech in English to show the various nuances of doubt, uncertainty and heresay etc.
We must however understand that all these various modifications and nuances is inherant in the Tukish Inferential -miş- Tense itself - so the extra words of explanation are generally not requires unless clarification is required.

Negative Forms of Past Tense

For the Perfect Past Tense Definite (Seen) the suffix -dı-, -di--, -du-, -dü- is added to the negative verb form.

For the Perfect Past Tense Indefinite (Heard) the suffix -mış-, -miş-, -muş-, müş- is added to the negative verb form.

In both tenses the person is then added to complete the personalized verb.

Past Tense Negative

An example of a verb stem ending in -a-

An example of a verb stem ending in -e-

An Example - A Joke in the Inferential Tense

Here we have a joke told in the Inferential Tense (shown in blue colour). The joke is not a true event and the use of the inferential belies this fact..

If you do want to see the English translation then hover your mouse here..

Sınıfta öğretmen sormuş - "Dalda üç kus var, birini vurdum kaç tane kalır?"

Çocuk cevaplamış - "Hiç kalmaz öğrtmenim."

"Olur mu oğlum?" - demiş öğretmen - "2 tane kalır."

"Olmaz öğretmenim" - demiş çocuk - "siz birini vurunca diğerleri aptal değil ya sesten ürküp kaçarlar..."

Öğretmen sasırmış ve - " Aferin oğlum! Cevabin yanlış ama düşünce tarzını beğendim." - demiş.

Sonra çocuk - "Öğretmenim, ben de size bir şey sormak istiyorum: Karsıdan üç tane bayan geliyor, üçü de dondurma yiyor, ama biri yalayarak, biri ısırarak, diğeri de emerek yiyor dondurmayı. Sizce bunlardan hangisi evlidir? "

Öğretmen kızmış ama, cevap veremedi dedirtmemek için belli etmemiş - "Emerek yiyen evlidir" - demiş.

Çocuk - "Olur mu öğretmenim ne alakası var, parmağında yüzük olan evlidir" - demiş, - "Ama düşünce tarzınızı beğendim."

We will not translate this joke as it could be considered a little risqué. This is because in the last line the word - alaka - revalence also has a secondary meaning - having a romantic interest in..

Some of the other Past Tenses in general use.

Definite Past Continuous Tense (the Imperfect Tense)

This is formed in a similar way to English. But the Turkish Forms are suffixed as usual - Verb Ttem + present tense suffix + past tense suffix (-di-) + personal ending

Indefinite Past Continuous Tense (the Imperfect Inferntial Tense)

This tense has no direct English equivalent. But the Turkish Forms are suffixed as usual - Verb Ttem + present tense suffix + inferential tense suffix (-miş-) + personal ending

A Further Examples

Past Continuous Tense - Negative (Hearsay):

anlamamak - (it is believed) to not understand

anlamıyormuşum - it seem that I were not understanding
anlamıyormuşsun - it seem that you were not understanding
anlamıyormuş - it seem that you were not understanding
anlamıyormuşuz - it seem that you were not understanding
anlamıyormuşsunuz - it seem thatyou were not understanding
anlamıyorlarmiş - it seem that you were not understanding

gitmemek - (apparently) not to go

gitmiyormuşum - I do not think that you could have gone
gitmiyormuşsun - I do not think that you went
gitmiyormuş - I am pretty sure that he did not go
gitmiyormuşuz - I think that we did not go
gitmiyormuşsunuz - I belive that you did not go
gitmiyorlarmiş - they did not go apparently

Some Examples of the Definite -di and Indefinite -miş Past Tenses

Examples of Questions in the Definite Past Tenses

Note that the mi? question particle follows the full verb in the Past Tense.

1. Okula gittin mi? - Did you go to school? - Eng: Have you been to school?
2. Okula gitmeliydin mi? [git-meli-ydin, the Necessitative] - Did you have go to school? - Eng: Did you have to go to school?
3. Ayşe ders çalıştı mı? - Has Ayshe done her lesson?
4. Mehmet televizyon seyrediyordu mu? - Was Mehmet watching television?
5. Mehmet televizyonu seyrediyordu mu? - Was Mehmet watching THE television?
6. Kemal gazete okudu mu? - Did Kemal read a newspaper? - [unspecified object]
7. Kemal gazeteyi okudu mu? - Did Kemal read THE newspaper? - [specified object]
8. Kemal bu gazete okudu mu? - Did Kemal read THIS newspaper? [demonstrated specific object]
9. Serhan içki içti mi? - Did Serhan drink alchohol? - [içki = alchoholic drink]
10. Serhan içki içiyordu mu? - Was Serhan drinking alchohol?
11. Faruk Ankara'ya gitti mi? - Has Faruk gone Ankara?
12. Faruk Ankara'ya gidebildi mi? - Was Faruk able to go Ankara?

The Past Perfect Tense - I had written.., you had arrived .., etc..

This tense signifies the Past in The Past. In English we say "I had done it..". As an example of the Past perfect Definite Tense, or "I thought I had done it" as an example of the Past perfect Indefinite Tense

Formation of the Past Perfect Tense

This Past Perfect Definite is formed by adding the Definite past tense suffix to the Past Tense -miş form of the verb. Note that there is no hearsay or doubt in the meaning of this tense as it is made definite and specific by the addition of the Past definite suffix in -di

This Past Perfect Inefinite is formed by adding the Indefinite past tense suffix -miş to the Past Tense -miş form of the verb. Note that there is hearsay or doubt in the meaning of this tense as it is made indefinite and unspecific by the addition of the Past indefinite suffix in -miş

Examples of the Past Perfect Tense