← Back

Past Tense & Evidential System

Definite past -di, evidential/reported past -mis, future tense, aspect and tense overview
Tense-Aspect-Modality system overview
Turkish TAM as suffix stacking
varies
Gidiyormuş = he is apparently going (present cont + evidential)
Past in the future: -ecek + -ti
would have / was going to
varies
Gidecektim = I was going to go; unfulfilled intention
Past evidential in context
-miş in narration and inference
varies
Bir varmış, bir yokmuş = Once upon a time there was... (fairy tale formula)
Conditional perfect: -seydi
if had done (counterfactual)
varies
Gelseydin, görürdün = If you had come, you would have seen
Optative mood: -e/-a
wish/hope/let's mood
varies
Gideyim mi? = Shall I go? Allah versin = May God give (optative)
Inferential evidentiality in detail
how -miş encodes epistemic stance
varies
-Miş marks that speaker did not directly perceive; critical pragmatic distinction
Reported speech with -miş vs. diye
two strategies for indirect speech
varies
Gelmiş = He (reportedly) came; geliyor diye söyledi = He said he is coming
Tense harmony in subordinate clauses
relative tense in embedded clauses
varies
Geldiğinde gidecektim = I was going to leave when he arrived (relative tense)
Habitual past vs. definite past
-irdi vs. -diydi distinctions
varies
Çay içerdi (used to drink tea, habitual) vs. çay içti (drank tea, specific event)
Aspect in Turkish: ongoing research
Turkish aspect is primarily Aktionsart-based
varies
Bounded events with -di; unbounded with -iyor; complex interaction