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When you walk into the office and see an empty desk, or notice the boss looking particularly grumpy, you naturally start piecing clues together. To make strong logical deductions like "she must be sick" or "he must have missed the bus," Turkish uses the word **olmalı**.

### Deducing Current States

**Olmalı** is the necessity form of the verb **olmak** (to be). When you want to state that a current fact or situation *must be* true based on your observations, you simply place the standalone word **olmalı** directly after the adjective or noun.

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### Deducing Past Actions

To deduce that an action *must have happened* in the past, you will combine the inferential past tense with **olmalı**. 

First, add the **-mış** / **-miş** / **-muş** / **-müş** suffix to the verb stem (following standard four-way vowel harmony). Then, follow it with the word **olmalı**.

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- **sabahlamak** (to stay up all night) + **-mış** + **olmalı** = **sabahlamış olmalı** (must have stayed up all night)
- **kilitlenmek** (to get jammed) + **-miş** + **olmalı** = **kilitlenmiş olmalı** (must have gotten jammed)

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### Laying Out the Evidence

Since these statements are logical conclusions, they are frequently paired with the evidence that led you to them. You can link your clues to your deductions using phrases with **için** (because / since) or conjunctions like **bu yüzden** (therefore / for this reason).

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Logical deductions (olmalı)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

postposition

preposition

pronoun

sentence

verb

Demonstrative pronouns (bu, şu, o)

Basic question words (kim, ne)

Plural nouns (-lar, -ler)

I am and you are (-(y)ım, -sın)

We, you, and they are (-(y)ız, -sınız)

Negative statements (değil)

Yes and no questions (mı, mi, mu, mü)

Questions with 'to be' (mısın, mıyım)

Numbers 1 to 10 (bir, iki, üç)

Numbers 11 to 20 (on bir, on iki)

Numbers by tens to 100 (otuz, kırk...)

Counting objects (tane)

The locative case (-da, -de)

Consonant assimilation (-ta, -te)

Asking where (nerede)

There is / there are (var)

There is not / there are not (yok)

Asking how many (kaç)

Infinitive verbs (-mak, -mek)

Informal commands (git, gel)

Negative commands (-ma, -me)

Polite and plural commands (-In, -InIz)

Basic word order

Present continuous for consonant roots (-iyor)

Present continuous for vowel roots (-iyor)

Present continuous personal suffixes (-iyorum)

Negative present continuous (-miyor)

Present continuous questions (-iyor mu)

Future plans with present continuous

The dative case (-(y)a, -(y)e)

Consonant mutation (k, t, p, ç to ğ, d, b, c)

From or out of (-dan / -den)

Directional question words (nereye, nereden)

First and second person possessives (-(i)m, -(i)n)

Third person possessive (-(s)i)

Plural possessives (-imiz, -iniz, -leri)

The genitive case (-(n)in)

Definite noun compounds (-nin ... -si)

Indefinite noun compounds (bare noun + -(s)i)

Possessive buffer letter (n)

Spatial postpositions (içinde, üstünde)

The definite direct object (-(y)ı, -(y)i)

Object question words (kimi, neyi)

Adjectives modifying nouns

Manner and choice questions (nasıl, hangi)

Basic degree modifiers (çok, biraz)

Comparisons (daha, en)

Days of the week

Months of the year

The time question word (ne zaman)

Telling time (saat, buçuk)

Asking the time (saat kaç, saat kaçta)

Basic conjunctions (ve, ama, veya)

Causality conjunction (çünkü)

Means and accompaniment (ile, -(y)lA)

Purpose and beneficiaries (için)

Expressing desire (-mak istemek)

The past copula (-(y)DI)

The direct past tense (-DI)

Past tense personal suffixes (-DIm, -DIn)

Past tense negative (-mAdI)

Past tense questions (-DI mI)

Ordinal numbers (-(I)ncI)

Greetings and politeness

Saying 'too' (de, da)

Conversation fillers (şey, yani, hadi)

Conversational essentials

Reflexive pronouns (kendim, kendin)

Reciprocal pronouns (birbiri)

Indefinite pronouns for people (herkes, kimse)

Indefinite pronouns for things and places (her şey, hiçbir şey)

Conjunctions of consequence (bu yüzden, bu nedenle)

Correlative conjunctions (hem... hem, ne... ne)

Verbs taking the dative case (-e / -a)

Verbs taking the ablative case (-den / -dan)

Time origin (beri)

Time duration (-DIr)

Comparisons of similarity (gibi)

Comparisons of equality (kadar)

Perspectives (göre)

Verbal nouns (-mA / -mE)

Verbal nouns as objects (-mAyI / -mEyI)

Verbal nouns with the dative (-mAyA / -mEyA)

General necessity (lazım / gerek)

Personal necessity (-mAm lazım)

Third-person commands (-sIn / -sInlAr)

First person singular optative (-(y)AyIm)

Question	Answer
on leave	izinli
The office is very quiet today; the manager must be on leave.	Bugün ofis çok sessiz; müdür izinli olmalı.
on sick leave	raporlu
The secretary is also not at her desk; she must be on sick leave.	Sekreter de masasında yok, raporlu olmalı.
to stay up all night	sabahlamak
The project is finished; the engineers must have stayed up all night last night.	Proje bitmiş, mühendisler dün gece sabahlamış olmalı.
Only we are here for the meeting; the others must be on leave or on sick leave.	Toplantı için sadece biz buradayız; diğerleri izinli veya raporlu olmalı.
highway	otoyol
to get jammed / to get locked	kilitlenmek
Because there was an accident, the highway must have gotten jammed.	Kaza olduğu için otoyol kilitlenmiş olmalı.
motorcycle	motosiklet
Because the highway got jammed, he must have used a motorcycle.	Otoyol kilitlendiği için motosiklet kullanmış olmalı.
shortcut	kestirme
Because a motorcycle is faster, he must have taken the shortcut.	Motosiklet daha hızlı olduğu için kestirme yoldan gitmiş olmalı.
Because he stayed up all night yesterday, he must have woken up later.	Dün sabahladığı için daha geç uyanmış olmalı.
photocopy	fotokopi
printer	yazıcı
The photocopy machine broke down; therefore he must have bought a new printer.	Fotokopi makinesi bozulmuş; bu yüzden yeni bir yazıcı almış olmalı.
mandatory / compulsory	zorunlu
Making photocopies for the meeting must be mandatory.	Toplantı için fotokopi çekmek zorunlu olmalı.
The new printer must have broken down too.	Yeni yazıcı da bozulmuş olmalı.
The boss is very angry; a problem must have come up in the meeting.	Patron çok sinirli; toplantıda bir sorun çıkmış olmalı.
The meeting is mandatory, so he must have gone via the shortcut.	Toplantı zorunlu, bu yüzden kestirmeden gitmiş olmalı.