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### 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)

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### 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**.

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The reported past tense (-mış, -miş)

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
fairytale, tale	masal
My mother read a fairytale.	Annem bir masal okumuş.
Which fairytale did she read?	Hangi masalı okumuş?
legend	efsane
My aunt told me this legend.	Teyzem bana bu efsaneyi anlattı.
How did this legend start?	Bu efsane nasıl başlamış?
king	kral
The king entered a large forest.	Kral büyük bir ormana girmiş.
The rich king won a great war.	Zengin kral büyük bir savaş kazanmış.
sword	kılıç
The king found an old sword in the forest.	Kral ormanda eski bir kılıç bulmuş.
My brother never used this sword.	Kardeşim bu kılıcı hiç kullanmadı.
hero	kahraman
The hero took that sword and ran.	Kahraman o kılıcı almış ve koşmuş.
How did my hero win?	Benim kahramanım nasıl kazanmış?
dragon	ejderha
The dragon lived behind the mountain.	Ejderha dağın arkasında yaşamış.
The hero suddenly defeated the dragon.	Kahraman ejderhayı aniden yenmiş.
witch	cadı
The evil witch got angry at the cat.	Kötü cadı kediye kızmış.
The witch did not come to the village at all.	Cadı köye hiç gelmedi.
magic, spell	büyü
The witch cast a dark spell.	Cadı karanlık bir büyü yapmış.
Nobody noticed this spell.	Bu büyüyü kimse fark etmedi.
giant	dev
The fat giant slept in the cave for a long time.	Şişman dev mağarada uzun süre uyumuş.
The giant drank water from the river.	Dev nehirden su içmiş.
fairy	peri
The good fairy helped the child.	İyi peri çocuğa yardım etmiş.
In which forest did the fairy live?	Peri hangi ormanda yaşamış?
I think, I suppose	sanırım
I think the king has come.	Sanırım kral gelmiş.
I think this is a fairy tale.	Sanırım bu bir masal.
probably, I guess	galiba
I guess the hero won.	Galiba kahraman kazanmış.
I guess you are tired.	Galiba yorgunsun.
in your opinion (informal)	sence
In your opinion, is this fairytale good?	Sence bu masal güzel mi?
Do you think it will rain tomorrow?	Sence yarın yağmur yağacak mı?