Tense and Evidentiality Mistakes | Turkish Grammar

Most Turkish tense errors made by English speakers are not really tense errors — they are mapping errors. English collapses distinctions that Turkish keeps separate, so the learner reaches for the one English form and lands on the wrong Turkish one. English has a single simple past ("I went") where Turkish splits witnessed (-DI) from reported (-mIş); English has a baggy present where Turkish splits habitual (-Ir) from progressive (-(I)yor); and English's "was going" has to be deliberately reconstructed in Turkish as -(I)yordu. This page targets the three transfer errors that result.

Error 1: Using -DI for hearsay (you needed -mIş)

This is the deepest of the three, because English does not grammatically encode how you know. Turkish does. The past suffix -DI carries an implicit claim: I witnessed this, I have firsthand knowledge. The suffix -mIş carries the opposite: I'm reporting this secondhand — I heard it, inferred it, or just discovered it. Say "He came" about something a neighbour told you, translate it with -DI, and a Turkish listener hears you assert you saw him come — a small but real false claim.

❌ Komşunun kızı evlendi diye duydum, çok güzel bir düğün oldu.

Inconsistent — if you only heard about it, the witnessed -DI (evlendi, oldu) clashes with 'I heard'; report it with -mIş.

✅ Komşunun kızı evlenmiş, çok güzel bir düğün olmuş.

The neighbour's daughter got married, apparently — it was a lovely wedding (so I'm told).

Use -DI when you were there, and -mIş for hearsay, inference, and surprise:

❌ Yağmur yağdı, her yer ıslak — ben görmedim ama.

Mismatched — if you didn't see it and are inferring from wet ground, use the evidential -mIş, not witnessed -DI.

✅ Yağmur yağmış, her yer ıslak.

It must have rained — everywhere's wet. (inference → -mIş)

✅ Dün akşam onu kafede gördüm.

I saw him at the café last night. (you were there → -DI)

💡

Before choosing a past tense, ask: did I witness this, or did I hear/infer it? Witnessed → -DI. Heard, inferred, or just discovered → -mIş. English forces you to ignore this question; Turkish forces you to answer it.

Error 2: Using -Ir for a current action (you needed -(I)yor)

English "I read" covers both "I read books (habit)" and, in the right context, an ongoing sense. Turkish keeps these apart sharply. The aorist -Ir / -Ar is for habits, general truths, and dispositions; the progressive -(I)yor is for what is happening right now or around now. Use the aorist for a current action and you sound like you are describing a permanent trait instead of the moment.

❌ Şu an kitap okurum, sonra ararım seni.

Wrong aspect — for an action happening right now use the progressive okuyorum; okurum states a habit.

✅ Şu an kitap okuyorum, sonra ararım seni.

I'm reading right now; I'll call you later.

❌ Bekle, yemek yaparım, on dakikaya hazır.

Wrong aspect — 'I'm cooking right now' is yapıyorum; yaparım means 'I (generally) cook'.

✅ Bekle, yemek yapıyorum, on dakikaya hazır.

Hang on, I'm cooking; ready in ten minutes.

The flip side is equally important: use -(I)yor where the meaning is genuinely habitual and you sound like you mean only this moment. For a standing habit, the aorist is right:

✅ Her sabah koşarım, çok iyi geliyor.

I run every morning; it does me good. (habit → aorist -Ir)

✅ Türkler çok çay içer.

Turks drink a lot of tea. (general truth → aorist -Ir)

💡

"Right now / these days" → -(I)yor (okuyorum, yapıyorum). "In general / always / as a rule" → -Ir/-Ar (okurum, yaparım). The same English present tense splits into these two; the time word in the sentence usually tells you which.

Error 3: Using -DI where "was doing" (-(I)yordu) is meant

English "I was reading when you called" sets a scene: an action in progress, interrupted. Turkish builds this with the past of the progressive, -(I)yordu ("was/were doing"). Learners reach for plain -DI and flatten the ongoing background into a single completed point, losing the "in the middle of" sense.

❌ Sen aradığında ben uyudum.

Wrong aspect — 'I was asleep / sleeping when you called' is the past progressive uyuyordum; uyudum means the completed 'I slept / fell asleep'.

✅ Sen aradığında ben uyuyordum.

I was asleep when you called.

❌ O sırada televizyon izledim, kapıyı duymadım.

Wrong aspect — for the ongoing background action use izliyordum ('was watching'); izledim states a finished event.

✅ O sırada televizyon izliyordum, kapıyı duymadım.

I was watching TV at the time; I didn't hear the door.

This is one slice of a larger pattern called the past of tenses: almost any Turkish tense can take -DI to push it into the past. The aorist past -Irdı ("used to do") is another piece English speakers miss, reaching for plain -DI and losing the "used to" habituality.

❌ Çocukken her yaz köye gittik.

Often wrong for a repeated childhood habit — 'we used to go every summer' is the aorist past giderdik; gittik reports one completed trip.

✅ Çocukken her yaz köye giderdik.

As kids we used to go to the village every summer.

Putting it together

In a single short narrative all three distinctions can appear, and English would blur every one of them into "went / was / heard":

✅ Dün eve geldiğimde annem yemek yapıyordu; haberlerde deprem olmuş diyordu.

When I got home yesterday Mum was cooking; she was saying there'd been an earthquake on the news. (witnessed geldim; ongoing yapıyordu; reported olmuş)

Common mistakes

❌ Haberlere göre köprü trafiğe kapandı, yarın açılacakmış.

Inconsistent source-of-knowledge — 'according to the news' you didn't witness it, so report the closing with -mIş too: kapanmış.

✅ Haberlere göre köprü trafiğe kapanmış, yarın açılacakmış.

According to the news the bridge has been closed to traffic; it'll reopen tomorrow (they say).

❌ Telefonda konuşamam, şu an araba sürerim.

Wrong aspect — 'I'm driving right now' is the progressive sürüyorum; sürerim means 'I (generally) drive'.

✅ Telefonda konuşamam, şu an araba sürüyorum.

I can't talk on the phone; I'm driving right now.

❌ Kapı çaldığında ben duş aldım, o yüzden açamadım.

Wrong aspect — 'I was in the shower when the door rang' needs the past progressive duş alıyordum; aldım is the completed event.

✅ Kapı çaldığında ben duş alıyordum, o yüzden açamadım.

I was in the shower when the door rang, so I couldn't answer.

❌ Eskiden bu mahallede otururduk demek isterken bu mahallede oturduk dedim.

Illustrative — a former, habitual living situation is the aorist past otururduk ('we used to live'); oturduk reports a single bounded stay.

✅ Eskiden bu mahallede otururduk, sonra taşındık.

We used to live in this neighbourhood, then we moved.

Key takeaways

Past = witnessed vs reported. Use -DI only for what you saw or experienced; use -mIş for hearsay, inference, and newly discovered facts. English hides this choice — Turkish makes you commit to a source of knowledge.
Present = habit vs now. -Ir / -Ar is for habits and general truths; -(I)yor is for what is happening at the moment. Don't let English's single present push you to the aorist for a live action.
"Was doing" must be rebuilt. Use -(I)yordu for an action in progress in the past, and -Irdı for "used to do." Plain -DI collapses both into a single finished event.
The transfer errors to watch: -DI for hearsay, -Ir for a current action, and -DI where -(I)yordu or -Irdı was meant.

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