Lesson 36: The Past Perfect Tense part 2 - Interrogative and interrogative- negative form

In the previous lesson we learnt how to conjugate the Turkish Past Perfect Tense in affirmative and negative form.
Let's see now how to obtain the interrogative form and the interrogative-negative form.
To do so I recommend to jump back to Lesson 23 for a moment and have a look at the suffixes used to form the past tense of the verb TO BE.
These suffixes will be used to build the interrogative form as well as the interrogative-negative form.


INTERROGATIVE FORM

Infinitive stem +
Reported Past suffixes ( -miş -müş -mış -muş )+
Interrogative particles ( -mi -mü -mı -mu ) +
Personal suffixes in past tense (see Lesson 23 for details) preceded by the buffer "y"
Let's better explain with a few examples:
Had you talked to him before? Onunla önceden konusmuş muydunuz?
Had she seen the doctor before? Doktoru önceden görmüş müydü?
Had they ever worked there? Orada çalışmış mıydılar hiç?

NEGATIVE-INTERROGATIVE FORM

Infinitive stem +
Negative particles -me -ma
Reported Past suffixes -miş -mış +
Interrogative particles -mi -mı +
Personal suffixes in past tense preceded by the buffer "y" as the following chart:
After the negative particle -me
ydim
ydin
ydi
ydik
ydiniz
ydiler
After the negative particle -ma
ydım
ydın
ydı
ydık
ydınız
ydılar

A few examples:

Hadn't you talked to him before? : Onunla önceden konuşmamış mıyıdın?
Hadn't he already seen the director ? Müdürünü henuz görmemiş miydi?
Different colors have been used to highlight the different suffixes used in this tense.
You can try to conjugate other verbs in Past Perfect Tense.You will realize that despite the number of suffixes used it is not that difficult.

Lesson 35:The Past Perfect Tense part 1-Affirmative and negative form-Conversation:"A message"

In this lesson we will focus on the PAST PERFECT TENSE in Turkish.
This compund tense is used to express an action which took place before another action in the past.

In the conversation the speaker talks about a message he left his daughter before he went out.
Pin your attention on the verbs conjugated in Past Perfect Tense (in red) and familiarize with new words and expressions.



"Ben sabahleyin evden çıkarken masanın üstünde bir mesaj bırakmıştım,gördün mü?
Hayır görmedim.Ne yazmıstın?
Kızımla ilgiliydi.Çıkmdan önce ona söylemek istemiştim ama uyuyordu.
Ne yazmıştın söylermisin lütfen?
Ben gelinceye kadar evde oturmasını istemiştim.
İyi ama.Ben uyandığım zaman o okula gitmişti.Onun için görüşemedik.
Neyse zarar yok. Ben biraz sonra geleceğim zaten.Şimdilik hoşçakal.
Güle güle!! Geçikme."



VOCABULARY/SÖZLÜK

Sabahleyin: In the morning
Bırakmak: To leave (sth)
-ile ilgili: related to, with regard to
Zarar yok: Never mind, don't worry
Zaten: anyway
Geçikmek: To be late
Evden çıkarken: While getting out 


                                                     GRAMMATICAL NOTES

The construction of the Past Perfect Tense in Turkish is quite simple and is based upon the pattern of  REPORTED PAST TENSE plus an additional  specific suffix.
The additional suffix  is a " t " which is placed between the reported tense's suffix ( -miş -mış -müş -muş) and the personal suffixes.
This explanation could appear a bit complicate but it's extremely simple.
A couple of examples will clear any doubt.

AFFERMATIVE FORM


                                              Stem     past suffix      Past perfect suffix       Personal suffix

I had gone: (Ben)                   git            miş                       t                                      im
Gitmiştim

They had gone (onlar)          git             miş                      -                                     ler di(*)
Gitmişlerdi

She had read (o)                   Oku          muş                     t                                         u
Okumuştu

 (*) The third person plural is represents an exception as no "t" is placed between past suffix and personal suffix

NEGATIVE FORM

The negative form is obtained by placing the negative suffix -ma -me between the base and the past suffix ( -mış-miş ) respectively.
A few examples will help better understand:
He hadn't gone: Gitmemisti
We hadn't seen him: Onu görmemiştik
You hadn't taken it: Onu almamıştınız
They hadn't spoken to him: Onunla konuşmamışlardı
Needless to remind you here that the negative suffixes -ma -me are not chosen at random but are linked to the infinitive stem, according to vowel harmony rule.
At this stage this concept should be clear but it is useful to refresh it from time to time.


( End of part 1)