Turkish Reported / Evidential Past Tense (-miş): The Gossip & Surprise Tense

Turkish has two simple past tenses. The definite past -di states something you witnessed or know for certain. The -miş past (öğrenilen geçmiş zaman or duyulan geçmiş zaman) presents the same event as indirect knowledge: you heard it from someone, you worked it out from evidence, or you have only just noticed it. Linguists call this evidentiality. English has no grammatical equivalent and uses words like “apparently”, “I heard that” or “oh, …!” instead. This guide covers formation, the four main uses, the noun form -(y)miş, and the mistakes English speakers typically make.

Formation

verb stem + -mış / -miş / -muş / -müş + personal ending

The suffix follows 4-way vowel harmony. It starts with a consonant, so there is no buffer letter and no stem change. The personal endings are the same as the “to be” endings: -ım, -sın, –, -ız, -sınız, -lar.

Vowel-ending stems simply add the suffix: başla- → başlamış, bekle- → beklemiş. Check any verb in the verb conjugator.

Negative: -mamış / -memiş

Add the negative -ma/-me before -mış/-miş. Because the negative only has a or e, the tense suffix becomes -mış or -miş:

Questions: mi after -miş

The question particle follows -miş and takes the personal ending: gelmiş miyim? gelmiş misin? gelmiş mi? gelmiş miyiz? gelmiş misiniz? but gelmişler mi?

The four main uses

1. Hearsay: “I heard that…”, “apparently…”

You are passing on information you got from someone else, the news or social media:

• Ali evlenmiş. — (I hear) Ali has got married.
• Dün İzmir’de büyük bir konser olmuş. — Apparently there was a big concert in İzmir yesterday.
• Mehmet işten ayrılmış, biliyor musun? — Did you know Mehmet has quit his job?

2. Inference from evidence

You did not see the event, but you can see its result:

• Yağmur yağmış. — It must have rained. (The streets are wet.)
• Kedi sütü içmiş. — The cat has drunk the milk. (The bowl is empty.)
• Biri kapıyı açık bırakmış. — Someone has left the door open.

3. Surprise and sudden realisation

You have only just become aware of something, even something about yourself:

• Ne kadar büyümüşsün! — How you’ve grown!
• Anahtarımı evde unutmuşum! — I’ve left my keys at home! (realising it now)
• Saat on olmuş! — It’s (already) ten o’clock!

4. Stories, legends and jokes

Folk tales and jokes are narrated with -miş from start to finish: Bir varmış, bir yokmuş, evvel zaman içinde bir padişah yaşarmış… (Once upon a time, long ago, there lived a sultan…). Nasreddin Hodja anecdotes are told the same way: Bir gün Nasreddin Hoca eşeğine ters binmiş… (One day Nasreddin Hodja got on his donkey backwards…).

Bonus: unconscious actions

Things you did without being aware take -miş even in the 1st person: Uyuyakalmışım. (I must have dozed off / I overslept.) Uykumda konuşmuşum. (Apparently I talked in my sleep.)

-di vs -miş side by side

Using -miş about events you clearly witnessed sounds odd or evasive; using -di for gossip makes you sound like an eyewitness.

With nouns and adjectives: -(y)mış / -(y)miş

The evidential also attaches to nouns, adjectives and words like var and yok. Here it usually refers to the present state, and a buffer y appears after vowels:

Film çok güzelmiş. (People say the film is very good.) Yarın toplantı yokmuş. (Apparently there’s no meeting tomorrow.) In formal writing you may also see the separate word imiş: güzel imiş.

Compound forms

-miş combines with other tenses to give the evidential version of each:

• -iyormuş: Ali Türkçe öğreniyormuş. — Apparently Ali is learning Turkish.
• -ecekmiş: Yarın kar yağacakmış. — It’s supposed to snow tomorrow.
• -mişti (pluperfect): Ben geldiğimde film başlamıştı. — When I arrived, the film had started.

These and other combinations are covered in compound tenses.

Formal -mıştır

In news, official notices and academic writing, -mış + -tır states a confirmed result, not hearsay: Toplantı ertelenmiştir. (The meeting has been postponed.) Uçuşlar iptal edilmiştir. (Flights have been cancelled.)

Example sentences

1. Komşumuz taşınmış. — Apparently our neighbour has moved.
2. Bu restoran çok iyiymiş. — They say this restaurant is very good.
3. Otobüsü kaçırmışız! — We’ve missed the bus!
4. Dün gece çok rüzgâr esmiş. — There must have been a strong wind last night.
5. Ayşe sınavı geçmiş mi? — Has Ayşe passed the exam (have you heard)?
6. Kimse bana söylememiş. — Nobody told me (it turns out).
7. Ne kadar iyi Türkçe konuşuyormuşsun! — Wow, you speak Turkish really well!
8. Mahallemizde yeni bir kafe açılmış. — A new café has opened in our neighbourhood, apparently.
9. Ali hastaymış, bugün gelmeyecek. — Ali is ill, apparently; he won’t come today.
10. Cüzdanımı unutmuşum! — I’ve forgotten my wallet!
11. Eskiden burada bir sinema varmış. — There used to be a cinema here (I’m told).
12. Çocuklar bütün pastayı yemişler. — The children have eaten the whole cake.
13. Haberlere göre trafik çok yoğunmuş. — According to the news, traffic is very heavy.
14. Bir varmış, bir yokmuş… — Once upon a time…
15. Saat gece yarısı olmuş, hadi yatalım. — It’s already midnight; let’s go to bed.
16. Uçak rötar yapmış. — The plane has been delayed, apparently.

Common mistakes

• Using -miş for your own conscious actions: ❌ Dün sinemaya gitmişim. (sounds as if you don’t remember) / ✅ Dün sinemaya gittim.
• Missing the buffer y after a vowel: ❌ hastamış / ✅ hastaymış.
• Harmonising the negative wrongly: ❌ okumamuş / ✅ okumamış (after the negative -ma, the vowel is ı).
• Writing mi attached: ❌ gelmişmi / ✅ gelmiş mi.
• Translating -miş always as “have done”: it can be “had”, “did” or “is”; the core meaning is indirect knowledge, not a time.

Mini-exercise

Put the verb or word into the -miş form.

1. (o) gitmek → ?
2. (ben) unutmak (surprise) → ?
3. (onlar) bilmemek → ?
4. (sen) büyümek → ?
5. kapalı (apparently it’s closed) → ?
6. (o) gelmek, question → ?
7. (biz) kazanmak → ?
8. pahalı (apparently it’s expensive) → ?

Answers: 1. gitmiş 2. unutmuşum 3. bilmemişler 4. büyümüşsün 5. kapalıymış 6. gelmiş mi? 7. kazanmışız 8. pahalıymış

Practice this

Compare the forms side by side in the verb conjugator, and continue with reported speech to see how Turkish quotes what others say.