How to use the past tense with verbs in Turkish (‑dı/di/du/dü or ‑tı/ti/tu/tü)

Prerequisites for this Turkish Grammar Lesson

-mıyor
-mıyor musun?
-mamak

mı/mıyım/mıyız/mısın(ız)/-lar mı
Emphasis in questions

The past tense

In Turkish, verbs are in the past tense if they have the past tense suffix on them. The past tense suffix is made up of two parts: either a t or d at the beginning followed by an i-type vowel. Depending on what the verb stem is, the suffix could be ‑dı, ‑di, ‑du, ‑dü, ‑tı, ‑ti, ‑tu or ‑tü.

Forming the past tense verb ending

To start forming the past tense ending, first find the dictionary form of a verb and remove the “mak” or “mek” from the end of the word. For example, “yapmak” means “to do,” so removing the ending “mak” leaves us with the verb stem, “yap.”

Grammar form:

Verb stem + dı/di/du/dü + (personal ending)
Verb stem ending with ç, k, p, s, ş or t + tı/ti/tu/tü + (personal ending)

After you determine the stem of a verb, check to see if the last letter of the stem is a voiceless consonant: ç, k, p, s, ş or t. (Technically, h and f are also voiceless consonants in Turkish, but there are no verb stems that end in h or f, so you don’t have to worry about those for now). If the last letter of the stem is a voiceless consonant, the first letter of the past tense ending will be “t.” Otherwise, it is a “d.”

Next, add the vowel to the verb stem according to i-type vowel harmony (ı, i, u or ü).

After adding the ‑tı/ti/tu/tü/dı/di/du/dü part of the ending, add the personal ending, which changes based on who is doing the action. Note that the personal endings for the past tense are slightly different from the personal endings for other grammar forms.

See the tables below for the personal endings for the verbs “konuşmak” (to talk) and “gelmek” (to come).

Past tense forms with “konuşmak” (to talk)

(Ben) konuştum	I talked
(Sen) konuştun	You talked
(O) konuştu	He/she/it talked
(Biz) konuştuk	We talked
(Siz) konuştunuz	You (plural or formal) talked
(Onlar) konuştu(lar)	They talked

Past tense forms with “gelmek” (to come)

(Ben) geldim	I came
(Sen) geldin	You came
(O) geldi	He/she/it came
(Biz) geldik	We came
(Siz) geldiniz	You (plural or formal) came
(Onlar) geldi(ler)	They came

Here are some more examples of simple sentences in the past tense.

Examples

Nice to meet you. (Literally, “I was pleased.”)

Hoşgeldiniz.
Welcome. (Literally, “You came nicely.”)

Şekerleme yaptım.
I took a nap.

Kaçtım.
I ran away.

Bir süre konuştuk.
We talked a while.

Uçak düştü.
The plane crashed (literally, “The plane fell“).

Yorgan gitti kavga bitti.
The quilt went away; the fight stopped.
(A Turkish proverb for when a dispute ends because the thing being fought over is no longer relevant)

Using the negative form of the past tense

Grammar form:

Verb stem + ma/me + dı/di + (personal ending)

To say that something will not happen in the past, add the -ma/me negative ending to the verb stem before adding the past tense ending. The negative ending will be either ‑ma or ‑me according to e-type vowel harmony. Then, the past tense ending is added as usual (either ‑dı if it’s after ‑ma, or ‑di after ‑me).

Negative examples with “gelmek” (to come)

(Ben) gelmedim	I did not come
(Sen) gelmedin	You did not come
(O) gelmedi	He/she/it/that did not come
(Biz) gelmedik	We did not come
(Siz) gelmediniz	You (pl. or formal) did not come
(Onlar) gelmedi(ler)	They/those did not come

Here are some more examples of negative sentences in the past tense.

Negative examples

dı

He/she did not take it.

Anlamadım.
I don’t understand. (Literally, “I did not understand”).

Beğenmedim.
I did not like it.

Forming yes or no questions with the past tense

Grammar form:

Verb stem + dı/di/du/dü/tı/ti/tu/tü + (personal ending) mı/mi/mu/mü?

Forming yes-no questions with the past tense is similar to how yes or no questions are formed with other verb endings: using the mı/mi/mu/mü yes-no question word. However, there is one thing that is different: with the past tense ending, the personal endings come before the yes-no question word.

Examples of questions with “gelmek” (to come)

(Ben) geldim mi?	Did I come?
(Sen) geldin mi?	Did you come?
(O) geldi mi?	Did he/she/it come?
(Biz) geldik mi?	Did we come?
(Siz) geldiniz mi?	Did you (plural or formal) come?
(Onlar) geldi(ler) mi?	Did they come?