You will form the reported past of a verb, say what you did not see yourself, and read the surprise in a sentence such as Kedi sütü içmiş.
The idea
Take the verb stem and add -miş, -mış, -müş or -muş, chosen by the last vowel of the stem (e i → -miş, a ı → -mış, ö ü → -müş, o u → -muş): gelmiş, yapmış, görmüş, okumuş. The ş never changes, and the stem keeps its final consonant: git gives gitmiş. The third person singular has no ending; the others add -im (gelmişim), -sin, -iz, -siniz and -ler, with the vowel matched to the suffix. The negative puts -me/-ma first (gelmemiş) and the question is a separate word (gelmiş mi?). The tense reports what the speaker did not witness: hearsay, an inference from evidence, or a surprise.
| Last vowel | Suffix | Example | I-form (ben) |
|---|---|---|---|
| e, i | -miş | gelmiş | gelmişim |
| a, ı | -mış | yapmış | yapmışım |
| o, u | -muş | okumuş | okumuşum |
| ö, ü | -müş | görmüş | görmüşüm |
Examples
- Ali dün eve erken gelmiş.Apparently Ali came home early yesterday.-miş reports what the speaker did not see: someone said so, or the speaker worked it out. A plain witnessed past would be geldi.
- Annem bana bir mektup yazmış.My mother has written me a letter, it turns out.
- Kedi sütü içmiş.The cat has drunk the milk, apparently.The empty bowl is the evidence: the speaker concludes what happened without seeing it, and that is -miş.
- uyumuşumI seem to have fallen asleepuyumuş-miş / -mış / -müş / -muş: the reported pastum-im / -sin / -iz / -siniz: I am, you are, we are
- görmüşsünyou seem to have seen itgörmüş-miş / -mış / -müş / -muş: the reported pastsün-im / -sin / -iz / -siniz: I am, you are, we are
- yapmışlarthey apparently did ityapmış-miş / -mış / -müş / -muş: the reported pastlar-ler / -lar: the plural suffix
- gitmişizwe went, it seemsgitmiş-miş / -mış / -müş / -muş: the reported pastiz-im / -sin / -iz / -siniz: I am, you are, we areThe t of git stays: -miş starts with a consonant, and softening to d needs a vowel, as in gidiyoruz.
- Çocuklar ödevlerini yapmamış.The children apparently haven't done their homework.The negative -me/-ma comes before -miş: yap-ma-mış. A plural subject usually keeps the verb singular.
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Watch out
Do not use -miş for something you did and remember. Dün sinemaya gittim says you went to the cinema; Dün sinemaya gitmişim sounds as if you had only just found out that you went. For what you lived through yourself, use the -di past.
Try it yourself
Put yap (do, make) into the reported past, third person singular.
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yapmış
yapmış: the last vowel of yap is a, which takes -mış; the ş stays and the third person has no ending.
Put oku (read) into the reported past, third person singular.
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okumuş
okumuş: the last vowel is u, a back rounded vowel, so the suffix is -muş; oku ends in a vowel, so nothing is lost.
Put gör (see) into the reported past, first person singular (ben).
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görmüşüm
görmüşüm: the last vowel ö is front and rounded, giving -müş, and the ü of that suffix then gives -üm for 'I'.
Put git (go) into the reported past, first person singular (ben).
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gitmişim
gitmişim: -miş starts with a consonant, so the t of git does not soften (softening needs a vowel, as in gidiyorum), and i gives -miş and -im.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Put yap (do, make) into the reported past, third person singular.
Put oku (read) into the reported past, third person singular.
Put gör (see) into the reported past, first person singular (ben).
Put git (go) into the reported past, first person singular (ben).
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the parts in order to build this word: I seem to have fallen asleep
Tap the parts in order to build this word: you seem to have seen it
Keep your progress
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Write four sentences about something that happened in your family or class that you only heard about or worked out from signs. Underline each -miş form and check its vowel and its person ending.