Questions & Answers about Cevap yanlıştı, ben haklıydım.
Why is it yanlıştı with a 't' instead of yanlışdı?
The word yanlış ends in 'ş', which is a voiceless or 'hard' consonant. When you add the past tense suffix -dı to a hard consonant, the 'd' hardens into a 't' to match it, making it -tı.
What is the 'y' doing in the word haklıydım?
The word haklı ends in a vowel. When attaching the past tense suffix -dı to a noun or adjective that ends in a vowel, you must insert the buffer letter 'y' between them. Then you add the -m for 'I', giving you haklı-y-dı-m.
Why do both yanlıştı and haklıydım use the 'ı' vowel in their past tense endings?
The past tense suffix follows 4-way vowel harmony. The last vowel in yanlış is 'ı', and the last vowel in haklı is also 'ı'. According to the rules, if the last vowel of the word is 'a' or 'ı', the suffix will use 'ı', which is why we get -tı and -dı.
I thought 'right' or 'correct' was doğru. Why use haklı here?
In Turkish, doğru means 'correct' or 'true' when talking about facts or things, like an answer. However, haklı is used specifically for people. When you want to say a person is 'right' or 'justified' in their thoughts or actions, you must use haklı.
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