Learn Turkish: Baba henüz gelmedi. - Father has not come yet.

It starts with the verb root gel- (come). Then we add the negative suffix -me. Finally, we add the past tense suffix -di. It uses -me and -di instead of -ma and -dı because of vowel harmony with the 'e' in gel-. There is no personal suffix at the end because it refers to a third person, 'he' (father).

Why does gelmedi translate to 'has not come' here instead of 'did not come'?

Turkish doesn't have a separate tense for 'has done' versus 'did'. The standard past tense handles both! Here, because of the word henüz (yet), 'has not come' is the most natural way to translate it into English.

Is the word henüz (yet) only used in negative sentences?

Not at all! In negative sentences like this one, it translates to 'yet'. But if you use it in a positive sentence, it means 'just' or 'recently'. For example, if you said Baba henüz geldi, it would mean 'Father has just arrived'.

Why don't we need to say benim babam (my father) or use a word for 'the' father?

Turkish does not have a definite article like 'the'. Also, just like in English where we can casually say 'Dad hasn't come yet' instead of 'My dad', Turkish speakers often just say baba when the context makes it obvious whose father is being talked about.