When living in an apartment, mysterious sounds from the floor above can easily drive you crazy. To express a strong assumption about an ongoing action ("must be doing"), Turkish uses continuous deductions.
Identifying Noises
Before we accuse our neighbors, we need to establish what we are hearing. Turkish has highly descriptive words for different types of loud noises.
| loud bang / rumble | gümbürtü |
| A loud bang is coming from the ceiling. | Tavandan bir gümbürtü geliyor. |
Forming Continuous Deductions
To deduce what is currently happening based on the evidence you hear, combine the present continuous suffix (-Iyor) with the auxiliary verb olmalı (must be).
Main Verb + -Iyor + olmalı + [Personal Suffix]
The main verb takes the continuous suffix and remains unchanged. The personal suffix attaches only to the auxiliary olmalı. Because it ends in a vowel, ben and biz require the buffer consonant -y- (e.g., oynuyor olmalıyım, oynuyor olmalıyız).
When guessing what your neighbors are doing, you will mostly use the third-person singular (olmalı) and plural (olmalılar).
| The neighbor's children must be stomping in the room again. | Komşunun çocukları yine odada tepiniyor olmalı. |
| They must be playing bowling upstairs. | Yukarıda bovling oynuyor olmalılar. |
| The man must be lifting a barbell right now. | Adam şimdi halter kaldırıyor olmalı. |
Making Dramatic Assumptions
As the noises get stranger—escalating from a simple bang to a clatter (takırtı) or a loud crash (şangırtı)—your deductions might become more dramatic.
| What is this clatter? He must be scraping the wall. | Bu takırtı ne? Duvarı kazıyor olmalı. |
| All hell must be breaking loose on the upper floor! | Üst katta kıyamet kopuyor olmalı! |
| I have no tolerance left; they must be breaking plates with a crash. | Tahammülüm kalmadı, şangırtıyla tabak kırıyor olmalılar. |
