Turkish grammar: geçmiş zaman

What this grammar point covers

Geçmiş zaman is the Turkish past tense. It is used to talk about actions or events that happened in the past and are known or witnessed by the speaker.

When to use it

Use geçmiş zaman in Turkish to talk about events or actions that happened in the past and that you know about directly or witnessed yourself.

Key forms

• The main suffix is -di, which changes according to vowel harmony: -di, -dı, -du, -dü, -ti, -tı, -tu, -tü.
• Suffix attaches to the verb stem: gel-di (came), yaz-dı (wrote), oku-du (read), bekle-di (waited).
• Personal endings are added after the past tense suffix: geldim (I came), geldin (you came), geldi (he/she/it came), geldik (we came), geldiniz (you all came), geldiler (they came).

Examples

Tips

• Pay attention to vowel harmony when adding the -di suffix.
• Remember to use the correct personal ending after the past tense suffix.
• Do not confuse geçmiş zaman (-di) with the other Turkish past tense (-miş), which is used for events not directly witnessed.

Exceptions and edge cases

• Some verb stems end with a voiceless consonant, so the suffix starts with -t (e.g., git-ti, not gid-di).