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### Past General Necessity

When you look back at past mistakes and want to express that something *was necessary* to do—often translating to "should have" or "needed to"—you can use the infinitive form of a verb followed by either **lazımdı** or **gerekiyordu**.

To build this, take the dictionary form of the verb, which ends in **-mak** or **-mek**. Then, add one of the past necessity words:
- **lazımdı**: "it was necessary" (from the adjective *lazım* + past tense *-dı*)
- **gerekiyordu**: "it was necessary" (from the continuous verb *gerekiyor* + past tense *-du*)

Because these words express a *general* necessity, they don't take personal endings to specify who should have done the action; the context makes it clear.

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### Negative Necessity: Shouldn't Have

If you want to say that it was necessary *not* to do something, you make the infinitive negative. Add the negative suffix **-ma** or **-me** right before the infinitive ending, giving you **-mamak** or **-memek**.

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### Describing the Right Course of Action

Both **lazımdı** and **gerekiyordu** are interchangeable and very common in everyday Turkish. You will frequently hear them paired with descriptive phrases to explain exactly how a situation *should* have been handled.

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Past general necessity (-mAk lazımdı)

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
forecast	tahmin
It was necessary to look at the weather forecast.	Hava tahminine bakmak lazımdı.
boat	tekne
It was necessary not to get on the boat knowing the bad forecast.	Kötü tahmini bilerek tekneye binmemek gerekiyordu.
sail	yelken
It was necessary to close the sail by moving fast.	Hızlı hareket ederek yelkeni kapatmak lazımdı.
wave	dalga
shore	kıyı
The waves shook the boat; it was necessary to return to the shore immediately.	Dalgalar tekneyi salladı, hemen kıyıya dönmek gerekiyordu.
rope	halat
tightly	sıkıca
knot	düğüm
It was necessary to tie a knot by holding the rope tightly.	Halatı sıkıca tutarak düğüm atmak lazımdı.
The knot you tied is wrong; it was necessary to use another rope.	Attığın düğüm yanlış, başka halat kullanmak gerekiyordu.
compass	pusula
We didn't see anything; it was necessary to look at the compass.	Hiçbir şey görmedik, pusulaya bakmak lazımdı.
It was necessary to put the compass in a safe place on the boat.	Pusulayı teknede güvenli bir yere koymak gerekiyordu.
vest	yelek
It was necessary to tie the vest tightly before the storm.	Fırtınadan önce yeleği sıkıca bağlamak lazımdı.
It was necessary not to let go of the sail in a panic.	Panik yaparak yelkeni bırakmamak gerekiyordu.
It was necessary to stay at the shore with our own boat.	Kendi teknemizle kıyıda kalmak lazımdı.
It was necessary to wear a vest on the boat and pay attention to the waves.	Teknede yelek giymek ve dalgalara dikkat etmek lazımdı.