Hemen hemen bütün daireler doluymuş.

to be

Breakdown of Hemen hemen bütün daireler doluymuş.

• dolu: full
• hemen hemen: almost
• daire: the apartment

Questions & Answers about Hemen hemen bütün daireler doluymuş.

What does the ending in bold in doluymuş mean?

• -miş/-mış/-muş/-müş here is the evidential (reported/inferential) past on a nominal predicate. It signals that the speaker learned the information indirectly or is inferring it.
• So doluymuş ≈ “apparently/it seems (they) were full.”
• Contrast:
  • doluydu = “were full” (witnessed, plain past).
  • doluymuş = “were apparently full / were said to be full” (hearsay/inference/softening).

Why is there a y in doluymuş, and why is it -muş (not -miş)?

• The form is: dolu + y + muş.
• y is a buffer consonant inserted between the vowel-final adjective dolu and the suffix to prevent two vowels from clashing.
• The vowel in the suffix follows vowel harmony: since the last vowel of dolu is u (a back, rounded vowel), the harmonizing variant is -muş.

Could I say daireler dolmuş instead of doluymuş?

• Yes, but it changes the focus:
  • doluymuş uses the adjective dolu “full/occupied,” describing a state: “were apparently full.”
  • dolmuş uses the intransitive verb dol- “to fill (up),” implying a change of state/result: “apparently (they) have filled up/became full.”
• Also note: dolmuş is a common noun meaning “shared minibus,” unrelated here.

Why isn’t it dolular to match the plural subject?