The past tense: -dı, and it always means you saw it
English has one past — 'it rained' — whether you watched it happen or heard about it later. Turkish keeps the two apart. This past is built with one ending -dı / -di / -du / -dü (four vowels by harmony) and its voiceless twin -tı / -ti / -tu / -tü after p, ç, t, k, f, h, s, ş. bozuldu — it broke, yağdı — it fell (rain, snow), bitti — it finished. For example: “Dün pazara gittim” — Yesterday I went to the market. A…
How it works
English has one past — 'it rained' — whether you watched it happen or heard about it later. Turkish keeps the two apart. This past is built with one ending -dı / -di / -du / -dü (four vowels by harmony) and its voiceless twin -tı / -ti / -tu / -tü after p, ç, t, k, f, h, s, ş. bozuldu — it broke, yağdı — it fell (rain, snow), bitti — it finished.
Then the person attaches: -m (I), -n (you), nothing (he/she), -k (we), -nız (you plural). The word grows to the right in chunks and reads the same way: git-ti-m — go-past-I.
And the detail English has no slot for at all: this is the witnessed past. It is how you speak about what you saw yourself. For secondhand news there is a second past on -mış — 'they say' (yağmış — 'it fell, so I hear'). For now the first one is enough, but know this: if a Turk suddenly says -mış, they are honestly telling you they were not there.
Table
| person | the ending | gitmek — to go |
|---|---|---|
| ben | -dim / -tim | gittim — I went |
| sen | -din / -tin | gittin — you went |
| o | -di / -ti | gitti — he went |
| biz | -dik / -tik | gittik — we went |
| siz | -diniz / -tiniz | gittiniz — you (pl.) went |
By example
- Dün pazara gittimYesterday I went to the market
- Sabah kar yağdıIt snowed in the morning
- Asansör dün bozulduThe elevator broke down yesterday
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
The past tense: how does it work in Turkish?
English has one past — 'it rained' — whether you watched it happen or heard about it later. Turkish keeps the two apart. This past is built with one ending -dı / -di / -du / -dü (four vowels by harmony) and its voiceless twin -tı / -ti / -tu / -tü after p, ç, t, k, f, h, s, ş. bozuldu — it broke…
What does it look like in an example sentence Turkish?
“Dün pazara gittim” — Yesterday I went to the market. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.