The reported past tense (-mış, -miş)

The Reported Past Tense

Turkish has a special past tense for events you didn't witness yourself. You use the reported past tense (also called the inferential past) for things you heard from someone else, learned after the fact, or inferred from evidence.

Because it describes events that are passed down or imagined, it is also the standard tense for telling jokes, myths, and fairy tales.

To form the reported past tense for third-person subjects ("he", "she", "it", or nouns), attach the suffix -mIş to the verb stem. It follows 4-way vowel harmony:

• Last vowel is a, ı → -mış (yaşamak → yaşamış)
• Last vowel is e, i → -miş (girmek → girmiş)
• Last vowel is o, u → -muş (okumak → okumuş)
• Last vowel is ö, ü → -müş (düşmek → düşmüş)

Witnessed vs. Reported Past

When should you use this new tense instead of the regular past tense (-di)?

• Use -di if you witnessed the event yourself, experienced it directly, or are stating a known historical fact.
• Use -mış if you are recounting a legend, passing on gossip, or talking about an event you didn't see firsthand.

Compare these two examples. In the first, the speaker directly experienced their aunt telling the story, so they use -di. In the second, they are asking about the unseen events inside the legend itself, so they use -mış.