The definite past, -DI, is the tense for things you personally know happened: events you witnessed, did, or are simply certain of. Two features set it apart from every other tense and make it worth a dedicated drill page. First, it takes the Type-2 personal endings (1sg -m, 1pl -k), not the Type-1 set the present and future use. Second, its initial D hardens to t after a voiceless consonant, so gitmek gives gittim, not gitdim. We will conjugate a voiced-stem verb, gelmek (“to come”), and a voiceless-stem verb, gitmek (“to go”), side by side.
The affirmative paradigm — voiced stem
After a vowel or a voiced consonant (like the l of gel-), the suffix stays -DI as -di-, and the Type-2 endings follow: -m, -n, -∅, -k, -niz, -ler.
| Person | Affirmative (gelmek) | English |
|---|---|---|
| ben (I) | geldim | I came |
| sen (you, sg.) | geldin | you came |
| o (he/she/it) | geldi | he/she/it came |
| biz (we) | geldik | we came |
| siz (you, pl./formal) | geldiniz | you came |
| onlar (they) | geldiler | they came |
Look at the ben and biz forms: geldim ends in -m and geldik ends in -k. Compare these with the present continuous geliyorum / geliyoruz — the past does not use -um/-uz. That -m and -k are the Type-2 signature, shared only with the conditional.
A word on when to choose -DI over the evidential -mIş past, since both translate as English past. Use -DI for anything you witnessed, did, or simply know happened — the default narrative past for your own day, history you are sure of, and events you saw. Dün sinemaya gittim (“I went to the cinema yesterday”) is -DI because you were there. Reserve -mIş for things you only heard about or inferred. If in doubt about your own actions, -DI is almost always the right call.
Dün akşam erken yattım, çünkü çok yorgundum.
I went to bed early last night because I was very tired.
Sonunda geldiniz, sizi merak ediyorduk.
You finally came, we were worried about you.
Telefonu masanın üstünde buldum.
I found the phone on the table.
The affirmative paradigm — voiceless stem and D→t hardening
When the stem ends in one of the eight voiceless consonants — p, ç, t, k, s, ş, h, f — the suffix's d devoices to t. So git- + ti → gitti, and the 1sg is gittim, never gitdim. The vowel still harmonises four ways; only the consonant changes.
| Person | gitmek (go) — ends in t | bakmak (look) — ends in k | içmek (drink) — ends in ç |
|---|---|---|---|
| ben | gittim | baktım | içtim |
| sen | gittin | baktın | içtin |
| o | gitti | baktı | içti |
| biz | gittik | baktık | içtik |
| siz | gittiniz | baktınız | içtiniz |
| onlar | gittiler | baktılar | içtiler |
A handy mnemonic for the voiceless set is the made-up word “Fıstıkçı Şahap” — every consonant in it (f, s, t, k, ç, ş, p, plus h) is voiceless and triggers hardening.
Sabah markete gittim ama süt almayı unuttum.
I went to the shop this morning but forgot to buy milk.
Pencereden dışarı baktık, kar yağıyordu.
We looked out the window; it was snowing.
Bütün suyu içti, çok susamıştı.
He drank all the water, he was really thirsty.
The negative paradigm
The negative inserts -mA- between the stem and -DI. Because -mA ends in a vowel (a/e), the suffix is always the voiced -di — there is never hardening in the negative, since the consonant before the suffix is now the a/e of -mA, not a voiceless stop. So even gitmek gives the soft gitmedim.
| Person | Negative (gelmek) | Negative (gitmek) |
|---|---|---|
| ben | gelmedim | gitmedim |
| sen | gelmedin | gitmedin |
| o | gelmedi | gitmedi |
| biz | gelmedik | gitmedik |
| siz | gelmediniz | gitmediniz |
| onlar | gelmediler | gitmediler |
Mesajını görmedim, kusura bakma.
I didn't see your message, sorry.
Dün hiçbir yere gitmedik, evde kaldık.
We didn't go anywhere yesterday, we stayed home.
The question paradigm
The particle mI follows the fully conjugated past verb, and unlike the present and future, the person stays on the verb — because the Type-2 endings are already attached before the particle. So it is geldim mi? (“did I come?”), with -m on the verb and the bare particle mı after it. The particle harmonises to the verb's last vowel.
| Person | Question (affirmative) | Question (negative) |
|---|---|---|
| ben | geldim mi? | gelmedim mi? |
| sen | geldin mi? | gelmedin mi? |
| o | geldi mi? | gelmedi mi? |
| biz | geldik mi? | gelmedik mi? |
| siz | geldiniz mi? | gelmediniz mi? |
| onlar | geldiler mi? | gelmediler mi? |
This is a genuine point of difference from the other tenses: in the present (geliyor muyum?) and future (gelecek miyim?) the person migrates onto the particle, but in the past it does not — geldin mi?, not geldi misin?. That is because -DI uses Type-2 endings, which attach directly and stay put.
Kapıyı kilitledin mi?
Did you lock the door?
Daha önce hiç İstanbul'a gittiniz mi?
Have you ever been to Istanbul before?
How this differs from English
English builds the past with “did” + bare verb in questions and negatives (“did you come?”, “I didn't come”) but with a marked verb form in statements (“came”). Turkish is more consistent: the past lives in one suffix, -DI, and stays on the verb throughout. The two things with no English parallel are the Type-2 endings — an English speaker has no reason to expect -m in geldim rather than the -um of the present — and the D→t hardening, which English spelling never does. The error gitdim feels right to an English eye precisely because English does not devoice suffix consonants; in Turkish, the ear demands gittim.
There is also a neat trap with the 1st-plural form that English speakers should note: geldik (“we came”) and the question geldik mi? (“did we come?”) use the very same -k that you will later meet on nouns and other tenses, so do not confuse it with the future -ecek. In the past, the -k is the person ending “we”; there is no softening, because nothing vowel-initial follows it inside the word. Geldik stays geldik.
Otobüsü kaçırdım, bu yüzden geç kaldım.
I missed the bus, that's why I was late.
Common mistakes
❌ Ben geldiyim.
Incorrect: the past uses the Type-2 ending -m, not Type-1 -yim — geldim.
✅ Ben geldim.
I came.
❌ Dün okula gitdim.
Incorrect: after voiceless t the suffix hardens to t — gittim.
✅ Dün okula gittim.
I went to school yesterday.
❌ Filme bakdık.
Incorrect: after voiceless k the suffix hardens — baktık.
✅ Filme baktık.
We looked at the film.
❌ Geldi misin?
Incorrect: in the past the person stays on the verb — geldin mi?
✅ Geldin mi?
Did you come?
❌ O gelmeti.
Incorrect: after the negative -me the suffix never hardens — gelmedi.
✅ O gelmedi.
He/she didn't come.
Key takeaways
- Past suffix: -DI
- Type-2 endings (-m, -n, -∅, -k, -niz, -ler) → geldim, geldin, geldi, geldik, geldiniz, geldiler.
- After a voiceless consonant (p, ç, t, k, s, ş, h, f) the d hardens to t: gittim, baktım, içtim.
- The negative always stays soft (-medi-) and never hardens: gitmedim.
- The question keeps the person on the verb: geldim mi?, geldin mi? — not geldi misin?.
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- The Definite Past -DI (Witnessed)A1 — The definite past -DI (geldim 'I came', yaptı 'he did') reports events the speaker directly witnessed or vouches for as fact — and it stands in deliberate contrast to the evidential -mIş, which marks hearsay and inference.
- Type 2 Endings (-m set)A2 — The Type 2 personal endings -m, -n, -Ø, -k, -nIz, -lAr are the short subject markers used only after the definite past -DI and the conditional -sA — so 'I came' is geldim and 'we came' is geldik, never the Type-1 forms.
- Suffix Hardening: the D and C ArchiphonemesA2 — The mirror image of softening — a suffix-initial D hardens to t and a suffix-initial C hardens to ç after a voiceless stem, so the locative is kitapta (not *kitapde) and the past is gitti (not *gitdi).
- Yes/No Questions on Verbs with mIA1 — How to turn a Turkish verb into a yes/no question with the separate particle mI, and why the person ending sometimes jumps onto mI.