Fiş gevşekmiş, fişi yerine taktım.

The plug was loose; I plugged it back in.

Breakdown of Fiş gevşekmiş, fişi yerine taktım.

• olmak: to be
• fiş: the plug
• gevşek: loose
• yerine takmak: to plug back in

Questions & Answers about Fiş gevşekmiş, fişi yerine taktım.

What does the suffix in gevşekmiş mean?

The suffix -miş (variants: -mış/-muş/-müş) is the evidential past. With adjectives/nouns it adds “apparently/it turns out/it seems” and signals that the speaker learned or inferred the information indirectly. So gevşekmiş = “apparently it was loose / it turns out it was loose.”

How can -miş attach to an adjective? Isn’t it for verbs?

In predicative sentences with adjectives or nouns, Turkish uses a bound form of “to be” that carries tense/evidentiality. -miş is the short form of imiş. It attaches directly:

• gevşek + miş → gevşekmiş
• If the word ends in a vowel, a buffer y appears: hasta + ymış → hastaymış.

What’s the difference between gevşekmiş and gevşekti?

• gevşekti: simple past, direct knowledge/witnessed fact (“It was loose.”).
• gevşekmiş: evidential past, indirect/inferred/hearsay (“Apparently it was loose.”). Use -di when you’re asserting a known fact; use -miş when reporting, inferring, or softening the claim.

Could I say gevşemiş instead of gevşekmiş?

They’re close but not the same:

• gevşekmiş describes a state: “It was (apparently) loose.”
• gevşemiş (from the intransitive verb gevşemek, “to loosen/become loose”) highlights the change: “It (apparently) became loose/has loosened.”

Why is it fişi with an -i? What case is that?

That’s the definite accusative: fiş + i → fişi. Turkish marks a specific/definite direct object with -(y)I (harmonized). Here it means “the plug (that we both know about).”

Can I drop the -i and say fiş yerine taktım?

Yes, but it changes the meaning to an indefinite object (“I plugged in a plug”), which sounds odd here. Because you mean a specific, known plug, you use fişi.

What exactly is yerine morphologically?

• yer = place
• yer-i = its place (3rd person possessive)
• yer-ine = to its place (dative) So fişi yerine taktım = “I plugged the plug back to its place.”

Does yerine also mean “instead of”? How do I tell the difference?

Yes. Two patterns:

• “to its place”: noun + 3rd person possessive + dative → yerine as “to (its) place” (as in this sentence).
• “instead of”: NP + yerine without possessive → çay yerine kahve (“coffee instead of tea”). Context and morphology disambiguate it.

What’s the breakdown of taktım and why is it -tı- not -dı-?

• Stem: tak- (“attach/plug/wear”)
• Past: -DI, harmonizes to -tı after the back vowel a and devoices after voiceless k (so d→t)
• 1sg: -m Result: tak-tı-m → taktım = “I plugged/attached.”

Why are different past markers used: -miş in the first clause and -dı in the second?

Because they reflect different stances:

• gevşekmiş: evidential past for an inferred/reported state.
• taktım: simple past for the speaker’s own action. This mix is very natural in Turkish: infer the problem, then state what you did.

Is the comma there okay? Could I use a connector?

Yes, the comma is fine for two related clauses. You can also add a connector:

• Cause → result: Fiş gevşekmiş, o yüzden fişi yerine taktım. (“…so I plugged it in.”)
• Or reverse: Fişi yerine taktım, çünkü fiş gevşekmiş. (“…because it was loose.”)

Shouldn’t it be prize (into the socket) rather than yerine?

Both are possible but mean different things:

• fişi prize taktım = “I plugged the plug into the socket.” (location = socket)
• fişi yerine taktım = “I put it back in its place.” (focus on restoring it to where it belongs; it implies back into the socket but highlights “back where it should be.”)

Can I say fişi geri taktım or fişi tekrar/yeniden taktım?

• geri = back to where it was (best match for “back in”)
• tekrar/yeniden = again All are acceptable; geri emphasizes restoration, tekrar/yeniden emphasize repetition.

Why is there no subject pronoun like ben?

Turkish is pro‑drop. The verb ending -m already shows 1st person singular, so ben is optional and only used for emphasis or contrast.

Is the word order fixed? Could I say Yerine fişi taktım?

Neutral order is object + complements + verb: fişi yerine taktım. Variations are possible for focus:

• Yerine fişi taktım foregrounds “to its place” (contrastive).
• Fişi taktım yerine is unnatural; keep the verb last.

Does fiş also mean “receipt”? How do we know it’s “plug” here?

Yes, fiş can be “plug” or “till receipt.” Context decides. Verbs like takmak and phrases like prize/yerine takmak point to the electrical plug. With receipts you’d see verbs like almak, vermek, istemek.

Any pronunciation tips for words here?

• ş = “sh” in “she”: fiş, fişi
• ı (dotless i) = back, unrounded vowel; like the second syllable of “roses”: taktım = tak-tım
• i = “ee”: fişi = “fee-shee”

Can you give more examples of -miş with adjectives/nouns?

• Kapı açıkmış. = “Apparently the door was open.”
• Hava soğukmuş. = “Turns out it was cold.”
• Negative with değil: Fiş gevşek değilmiş. = “Apparently the plug wasn’t loose.”