-dı or -mış? How to tell Turkish's two past tenses apart

There is a moment in my Turkish lessons for foreigners that comes up with almost every student. They have learned the past tense and are happily saying gittim, yedim, gördüm (I went, I ate, I saw). Then one day, in a TV series or a friend's message, they meet gitmiş, yemiş, görmüş and ask me: “Aren't these the same thing? Which one do I use, and when?”

In this post I want to share how I answer that question in class. The good news: you don't need a long list of rules to tell the two suffixes apart. You need one question that you learn to ask yourself every time.

The real question: how do I know this?

In English, the past tense mainly tells you when something happened. In Turkish, the difference between -dı and -mış is usually not about time at all. It is about the source of your information. Both describe the past, but they show a different relationship between the speaker and the event.

• -dı: I saw it, I lived it, I am sure.
• -mış: I heard it from someone, I worked it out from the result, or I have only just realised it.

Before you build a sentence, ask yourself: “Did I see this with my own eyes, or did I find out later?” That single question clears up most of the confusion.

Here is an example. You looked out of the window in the morning and saw it raining: Sabah yağmur yağdı (It rained this morning). You slept through the morning and found the streets wet at noon: Sabah yağmur yağmış (It must have rained this morning). Same event; the only thing that changes is how you came to know it.

-dı: the past I witnessed

Use -dı for things you experienced directly or know for certain. Dün markete gittim (I went to the shop yesterday). Akşam arkadaşımla film izledik (We watched a film with my friend in the evening). Toplantı saat üçte başladı (The meeting started at three). In each sentence, the speaker was there or is certain.

Following vowel harmony, the suffix appears as -dı, -di, -du, -dü. After a voiceless consonant (ç, f, h, k, p, s, ş, t), the d turns into t: baktı, içti, koştu, but sevdi, okudu. If you have already practised vowel harmony, this will feel familiar; if not, a quick review of it first will make everything here easier.

-mış: the past I heard about or worked out

Reach for -mış when you didn't witness the event yourself. In class I explain it with three situations:

1. Hearsay: Ayşe yeni bir işe başlamış (Apparently Ayşe has started a new job). A friend told you.
2. Inference from the result: Gece kar yağmış (It must have snowed overnight). You were asleep, but everything is white this morning.
3. Surprise or sudden realisation: Aa, sen çok iyi Türkçe konuşuyormuşsun! (Oh, you speak Turkish really well!) You have only just noticed.

The form is simpler than -dı: -mış, -miş, -muş, -müş, following vowel harmony, with no consonant change. Gelmiş, okumuş, görmüş, yazmış.

Using -mış about yourself: “I fell asleep!”

This is the use that surprises students most. Can you describe something you did yourself with -mış? Yes, but only if you were not aware of it at the time. Kitap okurken uyuyakalmışım (I fell asleep while reading). You didn't notice falling asleep; you realised it when you woke up. Telefonumu evde unutmuşum (I've left my phone at home), which you only noticed later.

That is why a sentence like Dün sinemaya gitmişim sounds odd in ordinary storytelling. It suggests you don't remember going to the cinema and someone had to tell you. For your own deliberate actions, choose -dı.

Fairy tales, stories and the news

You may have heard the classic opening of Turkish fairy tales: Bir varmış, bir yokmuş... (Once there was, once there wasn't...). Tales are told with -mış because the narrator didn't see the events; they are passing on a story. The same logic works when you retell what happened to a friend: Ali dün otobüste cüzdanını kaybetmiş, sonra bir yolcu bulup getirmiş (Apparently Ali lost his wallet on the bus yesterday, and then a passenger found it and brought it back).

You will hear this distinction constantly in conversation and in the news. When you watch a series or listen to people talk, tune your ear to one question: did the speaker see this, or are they passing it on? That habit lasts much longer than a memorised rule.

Corrections I make most often

• Telling everything with -dı: not strictly a grammar mistake, but if you relate news you only heard using -dı, you sound like an eyewitness.
• Telling your own experiences with -mış: it sounds distant and strange; remember the cinema example.
• Mixing up the person endings: practise gittim, gittin, gitti, gittik, gittiniz, gittiler and gitmişim, gitmişsin, gitmiş, gitmişiz, gitmişsiniz, gitmişler by reading them aloud.
• Forgetting the distinction in questions: ask Dün sinemaya gittin mi? (Did you go to the cinema yesterday?) about someone's own experience, and Ali sinemaya gitmiş mi? (Has Ali gone to the cinema, then?) to check something you heard.

A small exercise to try this week

Set aside five minutes each evening and write a three-part mini diary in Turkish:

1. Three things you did yourself today, with -dı. Sabah kahve içtim (I drank coffee this morning).
2. Two things you heard or read from someone else, with -mış. Komşumuz tatile gitmiş (Our neighbour has apparently gone on holiday).
3. One thing that surprised you or that you only noticed later. Şemsiyemi otobüste unutmuşum (I've left my umbrella on the bus).

Then read each sentence aloud and ask yourself: “How do I know this?” By the end of the week, you will notice you are thinking much less when choosing between the two.

If past tenses, or any other corner of Turkish, are giving you trouble, feel free to write to me through the contact form on this site. I'd be glad to put together a study plan that fits your level and your goals.