what is it?
Turkish marks the source of information grammatically. The suffix -(y)mIş is the evidential copula — the reported-speech or inferential form of the verb «to be». At A2 you met the finite past -mIş on its own (e.g. gelmiş — «he has apparently come»). At B2 the same copula attaches to other tense suffixes — present continuous, aorist/habitual, future, and necessity — to signal that the speaker did not witness the situation directly but is reporting it from hearsay, reading, or inference. This compound form is traditionally called rivayet birleşik zamanı (the «reported compound tense»). It is tense-neutral in the sense that the tense itself is carried by the inner suffix; -(y)mIş only adds the evidential layer on top.
when to use it?
Use the compound evidential whenever you want to report or infer something about a situation that is framed in a tense other than the simple past. The four main trigger conditions are:
Hearsay about an ongoing situation. You heard or read that something is happening right now or habitually. Use -Iyormuş for present continuous or -ArmIş / -IrmIş for habitual/aorist.
Reported future plans or predictions. Someone told you that something will happen. Use -AcAkmIş.
Reported obligation or necessity. You are relaying someone else's judgment about what must be done. Use -mAlIymIş.
Inference from evidence. Even without a second-hand source, if you are drawing a conclusion from indirect evidence (e.g. tracks in the snow, a note left behind), the same forms apply.
The compound evidential cannot be built on the simple past suffix -DI. For reported past events use the finite -mIş alone (e.g. gelmiş, not *geldimiş).
formation
The structure is always: verb stem + tense suffix + -(y)mIş + person ending (group 2). The connecting glide -y- appears only when the tense suffix ends in a vowel (e.g. aorist -Ar/-Ir → -ArmIş, -IrmIş; future -AcAk → -AcAkmIş — no glide needed because the tense suffix ends in a consonant). Person endings after -(y)mIş are the group-2 (possessive-type) endings, not the group-1 verb endings.
Group-2 person endings used after -(y)mIş:
| person | ending | example (geliyormuş-) |
|---|---|---|
| 1st sg. | -(y)Im | geliyormuşum |
| 2nd sg. | -sIn | geliyormuşsun |
| 3rd sg. | — | geliyormuş |
| 1st pl. | -(y)Iz | geliyormuşuz |
| 2nd pl. | -sInIz | geliyormuşsunuz |
| 3rd pl. | -lAr | geliyormuşlar |
The table below shows the four compound evidential tenses built on the verb çalış- («to work») in the 3rd person singular, which has no overt ending:
| tense | suffix sequence | 3rd sg. form | meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| present continuous | -Iyor + muş | çalışıyormuş | apparently he/she is working |
| aorist / habitual | -Ir + mIş | çalışırmış | apparently he/she works (habitually) |
| future | -AcAk + mIş | çalışacakmış | apparently he/she will work |
| necessity | -mAlI + ymIş | çalışmalıymış | apparently he/she must work |
examples in context
common pitfalls
Attaching -(y)mIş to -DI. The simple past suffix -DI cannot host the evidential copula. *Geldimiş is not a valid form. To report a past event you did not witness, use the finite evidential past -mIş directly on the stem: gelmiş.
Double-marking evidentiality. Because -mIş is already evidential, stacking it twice — *geliyormuşmuş — is ungrammatical. One instance of -(y)mIş is always sufficient.
Using group-1 person endings after -(y)mIş. After the evidential copula, person is marked with group-2 endings (the same set used after -mIş and -DI). The group-1 first-person singular ending -m is wrong here: *geliyormuşdum is incorrect. The correct form is geliyormuşum (group-2: -(y)Im).
Three sentences, graded here. Nothing is saved and no account is needed.
Onlar bu konferansta hiç bildiri ___ . (sunmayacak)
Fill in the blank with the correct compound evidential (rivayet) form of the verb in parentheses. The sentence is negative and the subject is "onlar".