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Turkish B1 · Intermediate

The Turkish -miş past: hearsay and surprise

Use -miş for things you didn’t see yourself: Ali evlenmiş! (Ali got married, I hear). The four shapes, personal endings, negatives, questions, surprise and fairy tales.

By Kerem, native Turkish teacher · Audio for every example

Turkish has two past tenses. -di is for things you saw or know for sure. -miş is for everything else: news you heard ( = Ali has gotten married, I hear), a result you can see ( = It has snowed: everything is white), and things you have only just realized ( = Oh, it’s gotten very late!).

English has no ending for this, so it adds words such as “apparently”, “I heard”, “it seems” or “it turns out”. Turkish packs all of that into four letters on the verb. Grammar books call it the reported, evidential or inferential past.

The pattern

verb stemplus-miş / -mış / -muş / -müşapparentlyplus-im / -sin / -iz …who

-di or -miş: how do you know?

The difference between the two pasts is not when something happened but how you know it. With -di, you were there. With -miş, you heard it from someone, you worked it out from what you see, or it took you by surprise.

-di or -miş?Both talk about the past. The ending tells how you know it.

  • You heard it

    Aligelmişapparently.

    Ali has come, I hear.

    Someone told you, or you read it somewhere.

    Saw it yourself?Ali geldi.

  • You see the result

    Dünkaryağmışapparently.

    It snowed yesterday. (Everything is white now)

    You didn’t see it happen, only what it left behind.

    Saw it yourself?Dün kar yağdı.

  • You just found out

    Kapıaçıkmışapparently was.

    Oh, the door is open. (I’ve just noticed)

    It’s news to you, and a bit of a surprise.

    Only -miş works here: there is no eyewitness version.

  • A story

    Birvarmışapparently was,biryokmuşapparently was.

    Once upon a time… (lit. there was, there wasn’t)

    Tales, legends and jokes: nobody telling them saw it happen.

    Only -miş works here: there is no eyewitness version.

  • Ali evlenmiş!

    Ali has gotten married! (I heard)

  • Elif yeni bir iş bulmuş.

    Elif has found a new job, apparently.

  • Biri kapıyı kırmış!

    Someone has broken the door! (I can see the damage)

Why?

Turkish makes you say how you know something. With -miş you are not lying if the news turns out to be wrong: you only passed on what you heard. That is why news, gossip and fairy tales are full of it.

Kerem’s note

Tip: Compare (I saw him arrive) with (someone told me, or I can see his shoes at the door).

How to build -miş: four shapes

Drop -mek / -mak to get the stem and add -miş. With nothing after it, the form means “he”, “she” or “it”: = he has come, apparently. The vowel follows four-way harmony, like the past -di: -miş after e or i, -mış after a or ı, -muş after o or u, -müş after ö or ü.

Build the word, one part at a timeTurkish adds each new part to the end of the word. Watch where the English puts it.
uyusleepmuşapparentlyumI

I slept, it turns out

Step 3 of 3umI

Who? I. After -di and -se it is just -m, and in gelmem (I don’t come) too.

  • Last vowel u is back and round, so the vowel is u: -um.
Finished word
Vowel harmony: four waysTap a word to see where its last vowel leads

come · last vowel e

gel

Frontsaid at the front of the mouth
Backsaid further back
Flat lips
Front, flat lips: e and iei-miş
Back, flat lips: a and ıaı-mış
Round lips
Front, round lips: ö and üöü-müş
Back, round lips: o and uou-muş

gelmiş: the last vowel is e, a front, flat vowel, so the ending has i.

  1. last vowel e
  2. front, flat
  3. ending vowel i
gelcomemişapparently

has come, apparently

The ending:Ending: m, i or ı or u or ü, here i, ş

  • Last vowel of the stem

    e, i

    Ending
    -miş
    Examples
    gelmiş,bilmiş

  • Last vowel of the stem

    a, ı

    Ending
    -mış
    Examples
    yapmış,kalmış

  • Last vowel of the stem

    o, u

    Ending
    -muş
    Examples
    okumuş,bulmuş

  • Last vowel of the stem

    ö, ü

    Ending
    -müş
    Examples
    görmüş,gülmüş

Tip: Unlike -di, -miş never changes its first letter: but , but . And the t of git stays t, because m is a consonant: , never gidmiş.

Personal endings: gelmişim, gelmişsin…

-miş does not take the short endings of -di. It takes the longer ones you know from “to be”: -im (ben), -sin (sen), nothing (o), -iz (biz), -siniz (siz) and -ler (onlar). Their vowels follow harmony: gelmişim but yapmış, okumuşum, görmüş.

The verb machinegitmek = to go. Pick a tense and a person: the root stays, the endings change.

(ben) past

gitgotididmI

Meaning:Igoin the past

It happened, and you know it first-hand.

Always in this order:roottenseperson

When?

Who?

All the forms

Tap a form to build it above. Only the endings change: the root stays the same.

  • After -di (past) and -se (if), the person endings are short: -m, -n, -k, -niz.

  • ben

    gelmek (come)
    gelmişapparentlyimI
    yapmak (do)
    yapmışapparentlyımI
    okumak (read)
    okumuşapparentlyumI
    görmek (see)
    görmüşapparentlyümI

  • sen

    gelmek (come)
    gelmişapparentlysinyou
    yapmak (do)
    yapmışapparentlysınyou
    okumak (read)
    okumuşapparentlysunyou
    görmek (see)
    görmüşapparentlysünyou

  • o

    gelmek (come)
    gelmişapparently
    yapmak (do)
    yapmışapparently
    okumak (read)
    okumuşapparently
    görmek (see)
    görmüşapparently

  • biz

    gelmek (come)
    gelmişapparentlyizwe
    yapmak (do)
    yapmışapparentlyızwe
    okumak (read)
    okumuşapparentlyuzwe
    görmek (see)
    görmüşapparentlyüzwe

  • siz

    gelmek (come)
    gelmişapparentlysinizyou (siz)
    yapmak (do)
    yapmışapparentlysınızyou (siz)
    okumak (read)
    okumuşapparentlysunuzyou (siz)
    görmek (see)
    görmüşapparentlysünüzyou (siz)

  • onlar

    gelmek (come)
    gelmişapparentlylerthey
    yapmak (do)
    yapmışapparentlylarthey
    okumak (read)
    okumuşapparentlylarthey
    görmek (see)
    görmüşapparentlylerthey

With ben, -miş usually means “it turns out I…”. You can’t hear news about yourself, so it shows that you have just realized something: = I’ve left my keys at home! (I’ve only just noticed.)

  • Çok uyumuşum!

    I slept so long! (I didn’t notice)

  • Anahtarlarımı evde unutmuşum.

    I’ve left my keys at home. (I’ve just realized)

  • Ne kadar büyümüşsün!

    How you’ve grown! (to a child you haven’t seen for a while)

Negative: gelmemiş

Put -me or -ma between the stem and -miş: (apparently he didn’t come), (apparently they didn’t do it). After -me or -ma, the ending can only be -miş or -mış.

Switch on “not”Flip a switch to see where “not” goes. The rest of the word stays.

Verbs: -me or -ma, right after the root.root-me / -matenseperson

  • Gelcomemişapparently.

    He has come, I hear.

  • Aracallmışapparently.

    She called, apparently.

  • Okureadmuşapparentlylarthey.

    They read it, apparently.

  • Ece aramamış.

    Apparently Ece didn’t call.

  • Toplantı daha başlamamış.

    The meeting hasn’t started yet, it seems.

  • Seni görmemişim, kusura bakma.

    I didn’t see you, sorry. (I hadn’t noticed you)

Questions: gelmiş mi?

Add the question word after -miş as a separate word. Its vowel follows harmony: , , , . The person ending then moves onto mi, as in the present continuous: Only -ler stays on the verb:

The question word mimi turns a sentence into a yes/no question.

It follows vowel harmony, but is written apart

e · imi
a · ımı
o · umu
ö · ümü

The last vowel of the word before mi picks its vowel.

The last vowel of Gelmiş is i, so the question word is mi.

Where the person ending goes

Most endings that say who (-um, -sun…) move onto mi. After -di (past) and -se (if), they stay on the verb.

  • Duyhearmuşapparentlymu? (yes/no)sunyou?

    Have you heard?ending on mi

  • Duyhearmuşapparentlymu? (yes/no)?

    Has he / she heard?

  • Duyhearmuşapparentlymu? (yes/no)sunuzyou (siz)?

    Have you heard? (siz)ending on mi

  • Duyhearmuşapparentlylartheymı? (yes/no)?

    Have they heard?stays on the verb

Ask about one word

mi goes right after the word you are asking about. Tap a word of the sentence.

Ali has gotten married, I hear.

Alievlenmişmi?

Has Ali gotten married?

A -miş question often asks what someone else heard or saw. If a friend has just talked to the doctor, ask = What did the doctor say? You weren’t there, so -miş fits.

  • Mektup gelmiş mi?

    Has the letter come? (Do you know?)

  • Doktor ne demiş?

    What did the doctor say?

  • Gelmişler mi?

    Have they arrived?

Tip: To ask “Did you hear?” about news, Turkish uses -di: Your friend heard it first-hand, after all. Then the news itself comes with -miş:

Surprise: güzelmiş!

-miş also shows surprise at something you have just discovered. Here it can follow -iyor, nouns and adjectives: , , . The fact itself may well be in the present; what is new is that you are only now finding it out.

-di or -miş?Both talk about the past. The ending tells how you know it.

  • You just found out

    Aa,Türkçebiliyor-ing (now)muşapparently wassunyou!

    Oh, so you speak Turkish!

    It’s news to you, and a bit of a surprise.

    Only -miş works here: there is no eyewitness version.

  • You just found out

    Bufilmçokgüzelmişapparently was.

    This film is really good! (I didn’t expect that)

    It’s news to you, and a bit of a surprise.

    Only -miş works here: there is no eyewitness version.

After a vowel, the glue letter y comes in: , , . The same forms also pass on news: = Ahmet is sick, I hear.

Glue letter: yTap “Add glue” to drop the letter in
y

y: two vowels meet

Turkish doesn’t let two vowels touch, so y goes between them: hasta → hastayım.

  • hastasickgluemışapparently was

    he’s sick, apparently

  • evhomedein / at / ongluemişapparently was

    she’s at home, apparently

  • kapalıclosedgluemışapparently was

    it’s closed, apparently

  • Aa, Türkçe biliyormuşsun!

    Oh, so you speak Turkish!

  • Çorba çok lezzetliymiş!

    The soup is delicious! (I didn’t expect that)

  • Market bugün kapalıymış.

    Apparently the store is closed today.

Fairy tales and stories: Bir varmış, bir yokmuş

Turkish fairy tales open with (“once there was, once there wasn’t”) and use -miş all the way through, because the teller didn’t see any of it. Lasting states and habits in a tale take the aorist + -miş: (he lived there, as the story goes).

  • Bir varmış, bir yokmuş.

    Once upon a time.

  • Birköydeyaşlıbiradamyaşarmış.

    Word by word: a, in-village, old, a, man, lived (they say).

    In a village there lived an old man.

  • Bir gün adam ormana gitmiş.

    One day the man went to the forest.

In Türkiye

Nasreddin Hoca

Türkiye’s best-loved jokes are about , a wise and funny village teacher said to have lived in the 13th century. Every Hoca story is told with -miş: nobody alive saw it happen. One of the most famous starts with the Hoca riding his donkey backwards.

Nasreddin Hoca bir gün eşeğine ters binmiş.

One day Nasreddin Hoca got on his donkey backwards.

Tip: You will also meet -miş as an adjective, with no hearsay at all: (toast, literally “browned bread”), (boiled egg). And -mişti means “had done” ( = he had come), which you will learn in our B2 course.

Common mistakes

Watch out

Not:Elif yeni bir iş bulmış.

Say:Elif yeni bir iş bulmuş.

Look at the last vowel of the stem: bul has u, so the ending is -muş. -mış is only for stems whose last vowel is a or ı.

Watch out

Not:Maçı izledim. Türkiye kazanmış.

Say:Maçı izledim. Türkiye kazandı.

You watched the match, so you know the result first-hand: -di. would mean you only heard the score, or found it out afterwards.

Watch out

Not:Duymuşsun mu?

Say:Duymuş musun?

In a -miş question the person ending moves onto mi: duymuş + mu + sun. Only -di keeps it on the verb:

Watch out

Not:Gelmiş miler?

Say:Gelmişler mi?

-ler is the one ending that stays on the verb. The question word comes after it.

Watch out

Not:Market kapalımış.

Say:Market kapalıymış.

ends in a vowel, so the glue letter y comes in before -mış: kapalı + y + mış.

A short dialogue

Read or listen, then answer

How did Selin hear the news?

  1. Selin

    Duydun mu? Emre ile Aslı nişanlanmış!

  2. Burak

    Gerçekten mi? Kimden duydun?

  3. Selin

    Aslı'nın annesinden. Emre ona Paris'te evlenme teklif etmiş.

  4. Burak

    Vay be! Hiç haberim yoktu. Düğün ne zaman?

  5. Selin

    Henüz karar vermemişler.

  6. Burak

    Aa, bak! Emre bana mesaj atmış.

  7. Selin

    Ne yazmış?

  8. Burak

    Bizi cumartesi akşam yemeğine çağırıyormuş!

  9. Selin

    Harika! O zaman bir hediye alalım.

Spot the -miş forms: and (news Selin heard), (negative), (Burak has just noticed the message), (a question about what Burak can see) and (-iyor + -muş: what the message says). uses -di: Burak heard it himself.

Summary

  • Heard news

    How
    stem + -miş / -mış / -muş / -müş
    Example

  • A result you see

    How
    same form
    Example

  • Just realized

    How
    same form, often with ben
    Example

  • Surprise

    How
    -iyor, noun or adjective + (y) + -miş
    Example

  • Negative

    How
    stem + -me / -ma + -miş / -mış
    Example

  • Question

    How
    -miş form + mi + ending
    Example

Practice this in Lesson 2 of Turkish B1

I heard that…Free

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