Grammar in brief: Seen it, or heard it

1At a glance

One question: were you there? You saw it, or you know it for sure, like the year your grandmother was born: -⁠dı. Somebody told you, you worked it out from the traces, or you’ve only just noticed: -⁠mış.

Seen it -⁠dı

When: you saw it, did it, or know it for sure
Example: Postacı geldi — I let him in myself
Harmony: -⁠dı, -⁠di, -⁠du, -⁠dü; after Fıstıkçı Şahap, -⁠tı, -⁠ti, -⁠tu, -⁠tü
Who: the short ones, as in evim: -⁠m, -⁠n, nothing, -⁠k, -⁠nız, -⁠lar
Not: gelmedim — after -⁠me always d
Question: geldin mi? — the “who” on the verb, mi at the very end
On a word: “was”: hastaydım, vardı, değildi, hasta mıydı?
Words it goes with: dün, geçen hafta, az önce, iki yıl önce

Heard it -⁠mış

When: you were told, worked it out, have just noticed; fairy tales
Example: Postacı gelmiş — there’s a letter under the door
Harmony: -⁠mış, -⁠miş, -⁠muş, -⁠müş; the m never changes
Who: Lesson 1’s, as in hastayım: -⁠ım, -⁠sın, nothing, -⁠ız, -⁠sınız, -⁠lar
Not: gelmemiş; with daha, “not yet”
Question: gelmiş misin? — mi takes the “who”, as after -⁠yor
On a word: “they say, it turns out”: hastaymış, varmış, değilmiş
Words it goes with: Duydun mu?, meğer, galiba

who	-⁠dısaw	miquestion	-⁠mışheard	miquestion
benI	geldim	geldim mi?	gelmişim	gelmiş miyim?
senyou	geldin	geldin mi?	gelmişsin	gelmiş misin?
ohe, she	geldi	geldi mi?	gelmiş	gelmiş mi?
bizwe	geldik	geldik mi?	gelmişiz	gelmiş miyiz?
sizyou (pl.)	geldiniz	geldiniz mi?	gelmişsiniz	gelmiş misiniz?
onlarthey	geldiler	geldiler mi?	gelmişler	gelmişler mi?

2The key points

Turkish school grammars name them for it: -⁠dı is görülen geçmiş, “the seen past”, and -⁠mış is öğrenilen geçmiş, “the learned past”. The whole rule is in the names.
Each is one word for “I came”, “I have come” and “I did come”: geldim. There’s no choosing between those.
Both go together the same way: stem, “not”, ending, “who”. The “not” is the same -⁠ma straight after the stem: gelmedi, gelmemiş.
Without a verb the same endings go straight onto the word, with a y after a vowel, as in hastayım: hastaydım, hastaymış. Var, yok and değil do it too: vardı, yoktu, değilmiş.
Passing on somebody else’s news, their -⁠dı becomes your -⁠mış: Deniz says Kediyi gördüm, and you pass it on as Deniz kediyi görmüş.
About yourself it’s -⁠dı: you know what you did. -⁠mış about yourself only when it surprises you, or you did it without noticing: Aa, anahtarımı unutmuşum!
The answer is the verb, not a yes: — Yedin mi? — Yedim. You can add evet, but the verb is what counts.

3How it works

	saw	heard
yazmakafter a, ı	yazdı	yazmış
gelmekafter e, i	geldi	gelmiş
olmakafter o, u	oldu	olmuş
görmekafter ö, ü	gördü	görmüş
bakmakk: -⁠tı	baktı	bakmış
gitmekt stays	gitti	gitmiş
yemeke stays	yedi	yemiş
hastaa vowel: y	hastaydı	hastaymış
yokk: -⁠tu	yoktu	yokmuş
değil“wasn’t”	değildi	değilmiş

Two verbs that misbehave in the present are perfectly ordinary in the past. Gitmek’s t turns into d only before a vowel, and here a consonant follows. Ye- narrows only right before -⁠yor:

gidiyorum — gittim— I’m going — I went

yiyorum — yedim— I’m eating — I’ve eaten

-⁠(y)dı on a word is always “was”. -⁠(y)mış only says you found it out, so it can be about now as well as yesterday:

Deniz evde değilmiş.— Deniz isn’t at home, it turns out.

Sevim teyze dün hastaymış.— Sevim teyze was ill yesterday, apparently.

Some verbs mean “to become”: acıkmak, “to get hungry”, doymak, “to have had enough”. In the past they tell you how things are now: you’ve got hungry, so you’re hungry. That’s what you hear at the table, though açım and tokum are right too:

Acıktım! — Doydum, teşekkürler.— I’m hungry! — I’m full, thank you.

Hiç in a question means “ever”, and in a question with “not”, “never”:

Hiç İstanbul’a gittin mi?— Have you ever been to Istanbul?

Hiç İstanbul’a gitmedin mi?— You’ve never been to Istanbul?

Fairy tales and jokes are told in -⁠mış from the first line to the last: nobody telling them was there.

Bir varmış, bir yokmuş. Bir köyde küçük bir kız yaşamış.— Once upon a time, in a village, there lived a little girl.

4In real life

— Ne oldu? — Telefonumu evde unuttum.— What happened? — I left my phone at home.

Pardon, anlamadım. Bir daha, lütfen.Sorry, I didn’t catch that. Once more, please.

— Dün akşam neredeydin? Seni aradım. — Evdeydim, telefonum kapalıydı.— Where were you last night? I rang you. — At home. My phone was off.

— Yemek nasıldı? — Çok lezzetliydi. Doydum!— How was the food? — Delicious. I’m full!

Duydun mu? Murat yeni bir araba almış!Have you heard? Murat’s bought a new car!

Sokaklar ıslak. Gece yağmur yağmış.The streets are wet. It must have rained in the night.

Haklıymışsın! Müze bugün kapalıymış.You were right! The museum’s closed today.

Aa, saat on bir olmuş! Son otobüsü kaçırdım.Goodness, it’s eleven o’clock! I’ve missed the last bus.

5Where it’s easy to slip

Not like this	Like this	Why
gitdim	gittim	After t it’s -⁠ti.
gidtim	gittim	Git-’s d is only before a vowel.
yidim	yedim	Ye- narrows only before -⁠yor.
geldi misin?	geldin mi?	With -⁠dı the “who” is on the verb.
gelmişsin mi?	gelmiş misin?	With -⁠mış the “who” goes on mi.
gelmişik	gelmişiz	-⁠k belongs to -⁠dı alone.
hastadım	hastaydım	After a vowel, a y.

6Check yourself

Four questions, each with two or three rules at once: seen or heard, which endings, where the “who” goes. Every wrong answer slips on exactly one.

1Ayşe told you: Dün İzmir’deydim. How do you pass it on to Can?

2Efe wasn’t in class yesterday. Ask him in surprise: “What, didn’t you go to school yesterday?”

— Efe, dün okula ?

3You spent half an hour looking for your key, and it was in your bag all along. “And it was in my bag the whole time!”

Meğer anahtarım ?

4You and a friend have been riding for ten minutes when it dawns on you that you got on the wrong bus. “Oh, we’ve got on the wrong bus!”