I can say what I did yesterday and last week, what I didn't do, and ask: “Did you go to the market?”
What happened: -dı and personal endings
What happened: -dı and personal endings
When. The past tense in -dı is for what has already happened and what the speaker is sure of, having seen or done it firsthand. It covers both English “I went” and “I have gone”. Time words: dünən, keçən həftə, keçən il, bu gün səhər, keçən həftə sonu.
Form. The stem (the infinitive without -maq / -mək) + -dı by the last vowel of the stem (-dı, -di, -du, -dü) + the personal ending. The letter is always d: içdim, satdım. The final t of the stem doesn't change before d: edirəm, but etdim.
The personal endings here differ from the present: -m, -n, nothing for “he, she”, -q / -k, -nız, -lar. “We”: after a, ı, o, u — q (yazdıq); after e, ə, i, ö, ü — k (verdik). See the table.
“Not” — -madı / -mədi + the personal ending, with no separate “didn't”: satmadım, görmədim. A question — -mı after the personal ending, joined, with no “did” and no change of word order: satdınmı? gördünmü? You can also ask by intonation alone. The personal ending is stressed — unlike -am, -dır, -mı.
Where were you? — “Harada idin?”; how was it? — “Necə idi?”: for now these are set phrases.
Common mistakes:
• ×verdiyəm — after -dı the ending is -m, not -yəm: verdim
• ×Dünən oxuyuram — with dünən use the past: Dünən oxudum
• ×satdın mı — the particle is written joined: satdınmı
The past tense: -dı and personal endings
The form -dı, -di, -du, -dü follows the last vowel of the stem; it has its own personal endings.
| Person | yazmaq | vermək | oxumaq | görmək |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| mən | yazdım | verdim | oxudum | gördüm |
| sən | yazdın | verdin | oxudun | gördün |
| o | yazdı | verdi | oxudu | gördü |
| biz | yazdıq | verdik | oxuduq | gördük |
| siz | yazdınız | verdiniz | oxudunuz | gördünüz |
| onlar | yazdılar | verdilər | oxudular | gördülər |
“Not” and questions in the past
-madı / -mədi goes before the personal ending; -mı goes after it, joined.
| How | yazmaq | vermək |
|---|---|---|
| “not” | yazmadım | vermədim |
| question | yazdınmı? | verdinmi? |
Lesson notes
What happened: -dı and personal endings
When. The past tense in -dı is for what has already happened and what the speaker is sure of, having seen or done it firsthand. It covers both English “I went” and “I have gone”. Time words: dünən, keçən həftə, keçən il, bu gün səhər, keçən həftə sonu.
Form. The stem (the infinitive without -maq / -mək) + -dı by the last vowel of the stem (-dı, -di, -du, -dü) + the personal ending. The letter is always d: içdim, satdım. The final t of the stem doesn't change before d: edirəm, but etdim.
The personal endings here differ from the present: -m, -n, nothing for “he, she”, -q / -k, -nız, -lar. “We”: after a, ı, o, u — q (yazdıq); after e, ə, i, ö, ü — k (verdik). See the table.
“Not” — -madı / -mədi + the personal ending, with no separate “didn't”: satmadım, görmədim. A question — -mı after the personal ending, joined, with no “did” and no change of word order: satdınmı? gördünmü? You can also ask by intonation alone. The personal ending is stressed — unlike -am, -dır, -mı.
Where were you? — “Harada idin?”; how was it? — “Necə idi?”: for now these are set phrases.
Common mistakes:
• ×verdiyəm — after -dı the ending is -m, not -yəm: verdim
• ×Dünən oxuyuram — with dünən use the past: Dünən oxudum
• ×satdın mı — the particle is written joined: satdınmı