The Direct Past Tense (-DI)
To talk about completed actions in the past, Turkish uses the direct past tense suffix. To form it, remove the -mak or -mek from the dictionary form of the verb to get the verb stem. Then, attach the past tense suffix -dı / -di / -du / -dü, which changes according to 4-way vowel harmony.
For the third-person singular ("he," "she," or "it"), this is all you need—no additional personal ending is attached. It is also used for "they" when the subject is stated.
| The sun rose. | Güneş doğdu. |
| The student answered the question. | Öğrenci soruyu cevapladı. |
| The man suddenly remembered. | Adam aniden hatırladı. |
You can easily link past tense verbs in a sequence to describe a chain of events.
| The doctor answered the question and smiled. | Doktor soruyu cevapladı ve gülümsedi. |
Consonant Assimilation
Just like with the past copula, if the verb stem ends in a voiceless consonant (ç, f, h, k, p, s, ş, t), the d in the suffix hardens into a t. The past tense suffix then becomes -tı / -ti / -tu / -tü.
| The manager noticed a problem. | Müdür bir problem fark etti. |
| They shared an apple. | Onlar bir elmayı paylaştı. |
| My father remembered a story and told it. | Babam bir hikâye hatırladı ve anlattı. |
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