A2 · The simple sentence · about 7 minutes
The past of “to be”
I was, you were …
An ending with d turns “I am” into “I was”.
Do you know this already?
“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need1
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- eskidenin the past, formerly
Understand
RememberFirst -di, then the short person ending: yorgundum, evdeydin.
- Signal words
- dün
- geçen hafta
- o zaman
- eskiden
The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Turkish. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) tense marker person ending
| I was tired | (ben) yorgundum |
| you were tired | (sen) yorgundun |
| he, she was tired | (o) yorgundu |
| we were tired | (biz) yorgunduk |
| you were tired (plural, polite) | (siz) yorgundunuz |
| they were tired | (onlar) yorgundular |
| I was at home | (ben) evdeydim |
| you were at home | (sen) evdeydin |
| he, she was at home | (o) evdeydi |
| we were at home | (biz) evdeydik |
| you were at home (plural, polite) | (siz) evdeydiniz |
| they were at home | (onlar) evdeydiler |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
A noun or adjective takes -di and then a short person ending.
Dün çok yorgundum.Yesterday I was very tired.
After a vowel a y goes in.
Geçen hafta hastaydım.Last week I was ill.
After f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p, -di becomes -ti.
Dün hava çok sıcaktı.Yesterday it was very hot.
var, yok and değil take -di too.
Evde kimse yoktu.There was nobody at home.
In a question -di attaches to mi.
Dün evde miydin?Were you at home yesterday?
Example sentences
Eskiden öğretmendim.I used to be a teacher.
Saat sekizde evdeydik.At eight we were at home.
Film çok güzeldi.The film was very good.
6 more example sentences
Dün vaktim yoktu.Yesterday I had no time.
O zaman öğrenci değildin.At that time you were not a student yet.
Tatilde hava nasıldı?What was the weather like on holiday?
Eskiden burada bir fırın vardı.There used to be a bakery here.
Siz dün neredeydiniz?Where were you yesterday?
Konser harikaydı.The concert was wonderful.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
If you already know hastayım “I am ill”, you tend to add the past at the end: hastayımdı. But the order is the other way round — first the tense, then the person — and the person ending is the short one: -m instead of -im.
Quick check
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Practise
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The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
“I was tired” is Yorgundum. The noun or adjective takes -di, followed by a short person ending: -m, -n, nothing, -k, -niz, -ler. So yorgundum, yorgundun, yorgundu, yorgunduk, yorgundunuz, yorgundular.
-di follows four-way vowel harmony and assimilation: after f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p it becomes -ti (Hava sıcaktı “It was hot”). After a vowel a y goes in between: hastaydım, evdeydim.
The ending also attaches to var, yok and değil: Evde süt vardı“There was milk at home”Vaktim yoktu“I had no time”Hasta değildim“I was not ill” In a question it attaches to mi: Yorgun muydun? “Were you tired?”
Written separately, the ending is idi: öğrenci idim. That is correct but sounds formal; in everyday use you say and write the attached form.
A closer look
The short person endings
After -di come different person endings from those of “I am”: -m, -n, nothing, -k, -niz, -ler. They are the same as in the past tense of verbs: geldim, geldin, geldi, geldik. Learn them here and you already have them there.
Exceptions and special cases1
Exception
When the third person plural is meant
then -ler can come before or after -di: yorgundular and yorgunlardı.
Çocuklar çok yorgunlardı.The children were very tired.
Why? Both positions are correct. If the sentence already has a plural subject, -ler is often left out altogether: Çocuklar çok yorgundu.
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
Compared with English
English “was” and “were” are irregular words of their own. In Turkish it is the same ending as on verbs in the past (geldim “I came”). If you can say yorgundum, you already have half the past tense.
Dün evdeydim, bugün işteyim.Yesterday I was at home, today I am at work.
Worth knowing
“Have” in the past
Because “have” is made with var, “I had” is simply vardı at the end of the sentence: Bir köpeğim vardı “I had a dog”.
Çocukluğumda bir köpeğim vardı.I had a dog when I was a child.