Reported Past Tense (-mIş Geçmiş Zaman)

The -mIş tense is unique to Turkish. It is used when the speaker did not witness the action personally but heard about it from someone else or realized it later by its results.

💡 When to use it?

  1. Hearsay: Reporting news or information told by others.

  2. Late Realization: Discovering something you weren't aware of at the time (e.g., "Oh, I've run out of sugar!").

  3. Stories & Myths: Narrating folk tales or jokes.

  4. Personal Childhood: Events you don't remember yourself but were told about.

Conjugation Table (Verb: Gelmek - To Come):

The suffix follows 4-way vowel harmony ($mış, miş, muş, müş$).

Pronoun

Positive Form

Reported Meaning

Ben

Gelmişim

(It seems) I came

Sen

Gelmişsin

(I heard) you came

O

Gelmiş

(They say) he/she came

Biz

Gelmişiz

(Apparently) we came

Siz

Gelmişsiniz

(I heard) you all came

Onlar

Gelmişler

(They say) they came


Practical Sentence Examples:

  • Uyuya kalmışım! (I just realized) I have fallen asleep!

  • Dün çok yağmur yağmış: (I heard or saw the puddles) It rained a lot yesterday.

  • Sınavı geçmişim: (I checked the results) I passed the exam.

  • Doktor buna çok şaşırmış: (My mom told me) The doctor was very surprised by this.