The Turkish past tense (-dı): every form with one rule

The Turkish past tense in -dı describes actions that are completed and that the speaker witnessed or knows for certain: Dün sinemaya gittim. (I went to the cinema yesterday.) As in the present continuous, every form is built from the order of the suffixes. There is one difference, though: in the past tense the question particle comes at the very end. In this article I cover the positive, negative and question forms of the past tense, the changing forms of the suffix, and the past in noun sentences.

1. When is it used?

Use	Example
A completed action	Dün sinemaya gittim. (I went to the cinema yesterday.)
An event you witnessed	Ali sabah erken geldi. (Ali came early in the morning.)
Something that has just happened	Tamam, anladım. (OK, I understand.)

Note the last row: in Turkish, forms like anladım, bitti, geldim are also used for things that have just happened and whose result is visible now. Anladım means “I understand (now)”.

2. The logic: the order of the suffixes

The order is always the same: verb root + (negative) + past tense + personal ending + (question).

Positive and negative (almak, to take):

Person	Verb root	Negative	Past tense	Personal ending	Result
ben (I)	al-	(-ma-)	-dı	-m	aldım / almadım
sen (you)	al-	(-ma-)	-dı	-n	aldın / almadın
o (he/she)	al-	(-ma-)	-dı		aldı / almadı
biz (we)	al-	(-ma-)	-dı	-k	aldık / almadık
siz (you, plural/polite)	al-	(-ma-)	-dı	-nız	aldınız / almadınız
onlar (they)	al-	(-ma-)	-dı	-lar	aldılar / almadılar

The personal endings in the past tense are short: -m, -n, -k, -nız, -lar. For “onlar” the ending is often left out: Onlar geldi. and Onlar geldiler. (They came.) are both correct.

Questions: the question particle mı / mi / mu / mü is written separately, and in this tense it comes after the personal ending, at the very end:

Person	Question	Negative question
ben	aldım mı?	almadım mı?
sen	aldın mı?	almadın mı?
o	aldı mı?	almadı mı?
biz	aldık mı?	almadık mı?
siz	aldınız mı?	almadınız mı?
onlar	aldılar mı?	almadılar mı?

Compare with the present continuous: geliyor musun? (Are you coming?; the particle comes before the personal ending) / geldin mi? (Did you come?; the particle comes after the personal ending). This is the point learners mix up most often.

3. The eight forms of the suffix: -dı, -tı

The past tense suffix changes in two ways:

1. Its vowel follows the last vowel of the verb root (minor vowel harmony):

Last vowel of the root	Suffix	Example
a, ı	-dı / -tı	aldı (took), yaptı (did)
e, i	-di / -ti	geldi (came), içti (drank)
o, u	-du / -tu	okudu (read), koştu (ran)
ö, ü	-dü / -tü	gördü (saw), düştü (fell)

2. Its consonant: if the root ends in a hard consonant, d becomes t. Turkish learners remember the hard consonants with the phrase “Fıstıkçı Şahap”: f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p.

• yap-tı, iç-ti, git-ti, konuş-tu
• but al-dı, gel-di, gör-dü

In the negative, the suffix always begins with -dı, because “-ma / -me” ends in a vowel: yapmadı (didn’t do), içmedi (didn’t drink).

4. The past in noun sentences: öğrenciydim

The past tense suffix is also added to nouns and adjectives. After a word ending in a vowel, a y comes in:

Now	Past
Öğrenciyim. (I am a student.)	Öğrenciydim. (I was a student.)
Hava güzel. (The weather is nice.)	Hava güzeldi. (The weather was nice.)
Evde değilim. (I am not at home.)	Evde değildim. (I was not at home.)
Hasta mısın? (Are you ill?)	Hasta mıydın? (Were you ill?)
Kahve var. (There is coffee.)	Kahve vardı. (There was coffee.)

In the negative, the past suffix goes on değil: değildim. In questions, it goes on the question particle: mıydın? For details, see the değil and var and yok articles.

5. Common mistakes

Wrong	Right	Why
geldi misin?	geldin mi?	In the past tense the question particle comes at the very end.
yapdım	yaptım	p is a hard consonant, so d becomes t.
gelmediniz mı?	gelmediniz mi?	The particle follows the last vowel: gelmediniz, mi.
ben geldi	ben geldim	A personal ending is needed.
öğrencidim	öğrenciydim	After a vowel, a y comes in.

Test yourself

5 questions

1. 01"Dün sinemaya ___." (gitmek, to go; I)

   gidiyorumgittimgitdim

   Answer:gittim. t is a hard consonant, so -dı becomes -tı: git-ti-m.

2. 02"Ödevini ___?" (yapmak, to do; you; question)

   yaptı mısınyaptın mıyaptın mısın

   Answer:yaptın mı. In the past tense the question particle comes after the personal ending.

3. 03"Biz o filmi ___." (görmek, to see; negative)

   görmedikgörmediklergörmetik

   Answer:görmedik. In the negative the suffix begins with -dı; for "biz" the ending is -k.

4. 04"Dün hava çok ___." (soğuk, cold)

   soğukdusoğuktusoğuktı

   Answer:soğuktu. k is a hard consonant, so -dı becomes -tı; the last vowel is u, so -tu.

5. 05"Geçen yıl öğrenci ___." (I was a student last year.)

   öğrenciydimöğrencidimöğrenci oldum

   Answer:öğrenciydim. After a word ending in a vowel, a y comes before the past suffix.

Next step

Once you know the past tense, compare it with the present continuous: the order of the suffixes is the same in both tenses, only the place of the question particle is different. For all A1 topics, see the grammar guide. If you have a question, ask me.