Questions & Answers about O zaman çok âşıkmış.
Why does âşıkmış use the -mış suffix instead of the regular past tense -tı?
The -mış suffix is the reported or inferential past tense. By saying âşıkmış instead of âşıktı, the speaker implies they didn't personally witness the feeling at the time. They either heard about it from someone else ('Reportedly, he was in love') or realized it later on ('Turns out, he was in love!').
How would you turn this sentence into a question using the -mış mı form from this lesson?
To ask a question with the reported past on a noun or adjective, you use the question particle mı. The reported past suffix attaches to the question particle instead of the adjective: O zaman çok âşık mıymış? Notice that the buffer y is needed because mı ends in a vowel.
Why is there a circumflex (^) over the 'a' in âşıkmış?
The circumflex (^) in âşık tells us to pronounce the 'a' a bit longer. It is used in certain loanwords to distinguish them from similar-looking native words. Without it, the word aşık (with a short 'a') actually means 'anklebone' or refers to a traditional folk poet!
Is it normal to leave out the word for 'he' in sentences like this?
Yes! Turkish frequently drops subject pronouns like o (he/she/it). Because âşıkmış has no extra personal ending added after -mış, we automatically know it is the third-person singular. You could say O, o zaman çok âşıkmış, but the sentence is perfectly clear without it.
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