When a sudden wave of nausea hits or a strange rash appears, you naturally try to retrace your steps to find the cause. To express uncertainty about what caused these symptoms, Turkish uses the past possibility structure.
Forming Past Possibility
To express what might have happened, combine the perfective suffix with the auxiliary word olabilir (might be / can be).
Verb + -mış / -miş / -muş / -müş + olabilir + [Personal Suffix]
The main verb takes the perfective suffix, followed by the separate word olabilir. The personal suffix attaches only to olabilir. For example, add -sin for "you" (olabilirsin) or -iz for "we" (olabiliriz). For "he/she/it" (o), it remains olabilir.
| You might have eaten stale mayonnaise. | Bayat mayonez yemiş olabilirsin. |
| We might have gotten food poisoning from the chicken with mayonnaise. | Mayonezli tavuktan zehirlenmiş olabiliriz. |
To guess what might not have happened, attach the negative suffix (-ma / -me) to the main verb before the perfective suffix.
Verb + -ma / -me + -mış / -miş + olabilir + [Personal Suffix]
| You might not have digested the food yet. | Yemeği henüz sindirmemiş olabilirsin. |
| Your stomach might not have digested that stale fish. | Miden o bayat balığı sindirmemiş olabilir. |
Allergic Reactions
When dealing with allergies, you can use this structure to identify triggers and describe physical symptoms.
| Sesame oil might have caused redness on your face. | Susam yağı yüzünde kızarıklık yapmış olabilir. |
| This itching might have started from a sesame allergy. | Bu kaşıntı, susam alerjisinden başlamış olabilir. |
You can even use this grammar twice in a single sentence to connect a possible cause with a possible symptom.
| He might have eaten peanuts, so his lip might have swollen. | Fıstık yemiş olabilir, bu yüzden dudağı şişmiş olabilir. |
| The child might not have eaten sesame, his face might have broken out from something else. | Çocuk susam yememiş olabilir, yüzü başka bir şeyden kabarmış olabilir. |