Past tense in Turkish (geçmiş zaman)
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The past tense shows completed events in the past. The past tense is called 'geçmiş zaman' in Turkish. There are two suffixes that are used in the past tense in Turkish:
The difference between those suffixes is depending on whether the speaker witnessed the event or not.
The definite past tense is used when you have personal knowledge or directly experienced something. This tense shows events that are witnessed by the speaker. The suffix '-di' is used and can be formed as ''-dı -du, -dü, -ti, -tı -tu, -tü'' according to the vowel harmony rules.
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The 3 forms of the definite past tense are:
According to the verb's last vowel, one of the following suffixes "-dı, -di, -du, -dü" are added to the verb root and then the personal suffix is added.
Verb root + -di (dı/du/dü) + personal suffix
Last vowel of the verb root -> | a/ı | e/i | o/ö | u/ü |
---|---|---|---|---|
Add this suffix -> | -dı | -di | -du | -dü |
Examples
If the last letter of the verb root is one of "ç, f, h, k, s, ş, t, p", the letter "d" is replaced with a "t". Then the suffixes become "-tı, -ti, -tu, -tü".
Seçmek (to choose) | |
---|---|
Ben seçtim. | I chose. |
Sen seçtin. | You chose. |
O seçti. | He/she/it chose. |
Biz seçtik. | We chose. |
Siz seçtiniz. | You chose. |
Onlar seçtiler. | They chose. |
The negative suffix '-madı' or '-medi' is added to the verb root according to the vowel harmony rules and then the personal suffix is added.
Verb root + (-medi/-madı) + personal suffix
Last vowel of the verb root -> | a, ı, o, u | e, i, ö, ü |
---|---|---|
Add this suffix-> | -madı | -medi |
Examples
According to the verb's last vowel, one of the "-mı, -mi, -mu, -mü" are added after the verb and they are always written as a seperate word.
Verb root + -di (dı/du/dü)+ personal suffix + mi (mı/mu/mü)
Examples
The indefinite past tense is used for reporting an event that somebody did not witness in person. The suffix '-miş' is used and can be formed as ''-muş, -mış, -müş'' according to the vowel harmony rules.
The 3 forms of the indefinite past tense are:
According to the verb's last vowel, one of the following suffixes "-mış, -miş, -muş, -müş" is added to the verb root and then the personal suffx is added.
Verb root + -miş (mış/muş/müş) + personal suffix
Last vowel of the verb root -> | a/ı | e/i | o/u | ö/ü |
---|---|---|---|---|
Add this suffix -> | -mış | -miş | -muş | -müş |
Examples
The negative suffix '-mamış' or '-memiş' is added to the verb root according to the vowel harmony rules and then the personal suffix is added.
Verb root + -memiş/-mamış + personal suffix
Last vowel of the verb root -> | a, ı, o, u | e, i, ö, ü |
---|---|---|
Add this suffix -> | -mamış | -memiş |
Examples
According to the verb's last vowel, one of the "-mış mı-/ -miş mi/ -muş mu/ -müş mü" is added after the verb.
Verb root + -miş mi (muş mu...) + personal suffix
Examples
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Hi, my name is Ayşegül. I graduated from Hacettepe University in the department of English Language Teaching. I'm an English teacher in a private institution now. I can teach both English and Turkish.
First and foremost, I want to start with one of my favourite quotation from Richard Henry Dana(!) (I'm not sure whether this quotation belongs to him or not, but I liked it. :) “He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” First of all, we as teachers must improve ourselves about everything such as cultural knowledge, technology, best seller books new novels etc. We should keep up with the times and try to understand our students.
Then we should know students’ interests, needs, backgrounds and their level of English / Turkish. If we know the aforementioned things, it would be easier for us to decide what kind of materials we can use to attract their attention. Also, one of the key points is that we should motivate the students to learn. As teachers we should teach our students why they learn language/grammar/vocabulary etc. rather than just memorization. Regarding teaching methods we can use student-centered methods. We should use examples from real life so they can broaden students’ knowledge. Also using examples from real life, help students to internalize the examples. I strongly believe that we should make our students acquire the language from all aspects including reading, listening, writing, and speaking.
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Hello,
I was born in İstanbul and I lived there. I hold a bachelor degree in cinema and television at İstanbul Şehir University. During my university years, my stories have been published in major Turkish literary magazines. After my graduation I have been specializing in children's book illustration and literature. I founded children's book publishing house in Turkey. The name is Yıldız Tozu Publishing and my books were released. I worked as an editor-in-chief in the company. I was finding books in the world and I was publishing them in Turkish. I am practically and professionally working on Turkish language and literature. Later on, I moved France to continue my education and works about literature and art. Currently, I am learning french.
I have experience in teaching Turkish in years. Furthermore, I speak English very well (TOEFL B2) and French (B1) it is advantage for students who are beginners.
Here my methodology when I teach Turkish:
I will use the grammar books and my presentations, time to time.
For speaking practice: illustrations, daily conversations
For listening practice: Turkish songs, movies, series
For reading practice: news and articles about Turkey (for advance students), stories, picture books (for intermediate students), texts from language books (for beginner and intermediate students.)
If students need to focus specific area like writing etc. I am designing my class according to that.
In addition, it is because I am using broad material about Turkish media, you will be familiar the culture and sociology of Turkey.
I like to do lesson in creative and in an organized way; therefore, I believe you will learn fast and you will enjoy learning Turkish with me!
I hope to see you in my class :)
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Türkçe ana dilimdir, dolayısı ile düzgün Türkçe öğreneceksiniz. Sosyal öğrenme ve tecrübe ederek öğrenme yaklaşımlarını birleştirmekteyim. Sosyal öğrenme benimle öğrenci arasındaki etkileşimin egemenliği ve öğrencinin benden destek almasını içerir. Tecrübe ederek öğrenme ise öğrencinin yeni tecrübeler geliştirmesine olanak sağlanmasi anlamındadır.
Tüm yaş grupları ve tüm düzeyler davetlidir.
Sizinle, Türkçe'yi kendinize güvenerek öğrenmenizde yardımcı olabileceğim bir yolculuk paylaşmayı umarım.
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Derya K.Thank you Sereen! Derya
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Hello,
I was born in İstanbul and I lived there. I hold a bachelor degree in cinema and television at İstanbul Şehir University. During my university years, my stories have been published in major Turkish literary magazines. After my graduation I have been specializing in children's book illustration and literature. I founded children's book publishing house in Turkey. The name is Yıldız Tozu Publishing and my books were released. I worked as an editor-in-chief in the company. I was finding books in the world and I was publishing them in Turkish. I am practically and professionally working on Turkish language and literature. Later on, I moved France to continue my education and works about literature and art. Currently, I am learning french.
I have experience in teaching Turkish in years. Furthermore, I speak English very well (TOEFL B2) and French (B1) it is advantage for students who are beginners.
Here my methodology when I teach Turkish:
I will use the grammar books and my presentations, time to time.
For speaking practice: illustrations, daily conversations
For listening practice: Turkish songs, movies, series
For reading practice: news and articles about Turkey (for advance students), stories, picture books (for intermediate students), texts from language books (for beginner and intermediate students.)
If students need to focus specific area like writing etc. I am designing my class according to that.
In addition, it is because I am using broad material about Turkish media, you will be familiar the culture and sociology of Turkey.
I like to do lesson in creative and in an organized way; therefore, I believe you will learn fast and you will enjoy learning Turkish with me!
I hope to see you in my class :)
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Esra O.Thank you Bernie...
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Hi, my name is Ayşegül. I graduated from Hacettepe University in the department of English Language Teaching. I'm an English teacher in a private institution now. I can teach both English and Turkish.
First and foremost, I want to start with one of my favourite quotation from Richard Henry Dana(!) (I'm not sure whether this quotation belongs to him or not, but I liked it. :) “He who dares to teach must never cease to learn.” First of all, we as teachers must improve ourselves about everything such as cultural knowledge, technology, best seller books new novels etc. We should keep up with the times and try to understand our students.
Then we should know students’ interests, needs, backgrounds and their level of English / Turkish. If we know the aforementioned things, it would be easier for us to decide what kind of materials we can use to attract their attention. Also, one of the key points is that we should motivate the students to learn. As teachers we should teach our students why they learn language/grammar/vocabulary etc. rather than just memorization. Regarding teaching methods we can use student-centered methods. We should use examples from real life so they can broaden students’ knowledge. Also using examples from real life, help students to internalize the examples. I strongly believe that we should make our students acquire the language from all aspects including reading, listening, writing, and speaking.
All in all, as a teacher we have lots of things to do. One of our most important responsibilities’ is to help students to understand that they have enough power and capacity to learn a language if they are determined enough....
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Until now I followed 3 classes with Aysegül. I can defenitely recommend taking language classes with her! Aysegül is friendly and patient. She is also strict and provides me homework which helps me to motivate myself better. Thanks for helping me improving my Turkish Aysegül!! :)
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