Impossible Outcomes: Couldn't Have
To talk about things someone "couldn't have" done in the past, Turkish combines the negative ability suffix -(y)ama / -(y)eme with the negative past aorist ending -zdı / -zdi.
For the third person ("he/she/it couldn't have"), the structure is:
Verb Stem + -(y)amazdı / -(y)emezdi
(If the verb stem ends in a vowel, add the buffer letter *y first).*
| Because the explorer didn't use a spear, he couldn't have survived. | Kâşif mızrak kullanmadığı için hayatta kalamazdı. |
| The lion couldn't have roared before the ambush. | Aslan pusudan önce kükreyemezdi. |
Notice how kal (stay/survive) becomes kalamazdı (couldn't have survived), and kükre (roar) becomes kükreyemezdi (couldn't have roared). This structure emphasizes that the action was entirely out of the question, not just a missed opportunity.
We Couldn't Have
To say "we couldn't have," add the first-person plural past suffix -k to the end, forming -(y)amazdık or -(y)emezdik.
| We couldn't have hidden behind the rock. | Kayanın arkasına saklanamazdık. |
| We couldn't have crawled to the shelter in the dark. | Karanlıkta sığınağa kadar sürünemezdik. |
| Because we didn't set an ambush, we couldn't have hunted. | Pusu kurmadığımız için avlanamazdık. |
Survival at the Limits
Here are a few more examples of this structure in extreme survival scenarios:
| He could never have crossed the ocean with that small raft. | O küçük sal ile okyanusu asla geçemezdi. |
| The weak man couldn't have struggled any more in that cold water. | Zayıf adam o soğuk suda daha fazla çırpınamazdı. |