English reports speech with a conjunction and a finite clause behind it, as in “she said that she was coming”. Turkish keeps that option for two constructions and uses a different one everywhere else. The reported sentence stops being a sentence: it turns into a noun, picks up a possessive suffix, and then takes a case ending chosen by the reporting verb. Reported speech in Turkish runs on that one move.
In this article, you will learn which suffix replaces which original tense, what happens to the subject, and which case each reporting verb puts on the clause. You will also learn how to report a question and an order. Haydi başlayalım!
Table of Contents
How a Reported Sentence Becomes a Noun
Turkish turns verbs into nouns with several suffixes. Three of them build reported clauses. -mAk, the dictionary form, builds none, and is included here because the line between it and -mA decides how you report a request.
A capital letter inside a suffix name stands for a sound that changes with harmony: A is a or e, I is ı, i, u or ü, D is d or t, and K is k or ğ. One label therefore covers every realization, and -DIK alone has eight written forms, from -dık to -tük.
| Suffix | What it builds | Role in reported speech | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| -mAk | the action in the abstract | none; with no possessive suffix it cannot name whose action it is, which is why reported requests take -mA | Erken kalkmak zor. (Waking up early is hard.) |
| -mA | the action, with a possessive suffix naming whose it is | reported orders, requests and recommendations | Sessiz olmamı söyledi. (He told me to be quiet.) |
| -DIK | a clause with past or present content | reported statements | Beni beklediğini söyledi. (She said that she was waiting for me.) |
| -(y)AcAK | a clause with future content | reported statements about what comes later | Sınava gireceğini söyledi. (He said that he would take the exam.) |
The first two differ without any reporting verb in sight: Spor yapmak çok sağlıklı. (Doing sport is very healthy.) states the action in general, while Senin spor yapman lazım. (You need to do sport.) attaches it to a person.
For a reported statement, the formula is:
subject in the genitive + verb stem + -DIK or -(y)AcAK + possessive suffix + case suffix
Take a direct quotation and run it through: Ali, “Hastayım” dedi. (Ali said, “I am ill.”) becomes Ali hasta olduğunu söyledi. (Ali said that he was ill.) The quoted verb has disappeared. What reaches söyledi is a noun phrase, and nothing in it is conjugated. Geldiğimi (that I came) shows the seams: gel-diğ-im-i, stem plus -DIK plus the first-person possessive plus the accusative. Three sound rules run along those seams. Suffix vowels follow vowel harmony. The D of -DIK hardens to t after a voiceless consonant, which gives yaptığımı and not a form in d. The final k softens to ğ in front of a vowel, and a third-person possessive adds a linking n before any case ending: gel-diğ-i-n-i gives geldiğini.
Order that çay in Turkish
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Which Suffix for Which Time Reference
Use -DIK for an action at or before the reporting time, and -(y)AcAK for one that comes after it. Choose by the time you mean rather than by the ending of the original sentence: Ali, “Yarın geliyorum” dedi. (Ali said, “I am coming tomorrow.”) reports as Ali yarın geleceğini söyledi. (Ali said that he would come tomorrow.)
| What Ali said | How you report it |
|---|---|
| “Çalışıyorum.” (I am working.) | Ali çalıştığını söyledi. (Ali said that he was working.) |
| “Her gün yüzerim.” (I swim every day.) | Ali her gün yüzdüğünü söyledi. (Ali said that he swims every day.) |
| “Geldim.” (I came.) | Ali geldiğini söyledi. (Ali said that he had come.) |
| “Ayşe işi bırakmış.” (Apparently Ayşe quit her job.) | Ali, Ayşe’nin işi bıraktığını söyledi. (Ali said that Ayşe had quit her job.) |
| “Geleceğim.” (I will come.) | Ali geleceğini söyledi. (Ali said that he would come.) |
| “Meşgulüm.” (I am busy.) | Ali meşgul olduğunu söyledi. (Ali said that he was busy.) |
| “Param yok.” (I have no money.) | Ali parası olmadığını söyledi. (Ali said that he had no money.) |
| “Gitmem gerek.” (I need to go.) | Ali gitmesi gerektiğini söyledi. (Ali said that he needed to go.) |
The possessive suffix takes its person from the reporting viewpoint, not from the original speaker. Ali’s çalışıyorum comes back as çalıştığını once somebody else reports it, and time and place words move with it.
Notice that the table does not contain a shift backwards in time. English allows a backshift once the reporting verb is in the past, turning “I am working” into “she said she was working”. Turkish does not, because -DIK and -(y)AcAK locate the action relative to the reporting verb rather than to the moment of speaking. Translate the Turkish clause by the English tense the situation calls for, and leave the suffix alone. A state that still holds later keeps -DIK even next to a future time word: Yarın toplantı olduğunu söyledi. (She said that there was a meeting tomorrow.)
That relative timing is what makes a sentence like this one work:
- Haklısın ama ben sonuç kısmını senin yazacağını sanmıştım. (You’re right, but I thought you were going to write the conclusion.)
The reporting verb sits in the past perfect, the clause is in -(y)AcAK, and the result is the English “was going to”. A future clause under a past reporting verb gives you the future in the past.
How the Clause Marks Its Subject
State the clause subject explicitly and it goes into the genitive case, with a possessive suffix on the nominalizer agreeing with it. The two work as a pair. Existential clauses are the exception: Evde kimse olmadığını söyledi. (He said that there was nobody home.) leaves kimse unmarked.
| Clause subject | Reported clause | English |
|---|---|---|
| benim | geldiğimi | that I came |
| senin | geldiğini | that you came |
| onun | geldiğini | that he, she or it came |
| bizim | geldiğimizi | that we came |
| sizin | geldiğinizi | that you came (plural or polite) |
| onların | geldiklerini | that they came |
The second and third person singular forms are identical. Senin geldiğini biliyorum. (I know that you came.) and Onun geldiğini biliyorum. (I know that he came.) separate them with the pronoun, and context does the same work when the pronoun is absent, so keep it where the sentence would otherwise be unclear. With a plural subject, onların geldiğini stands beside onların geldiklerini. A named subject behaves the same way and keeps its apostrophe: Ayşe’nin taşındığını söyledi. (He said that Ayşe had moved.)
The final -i on each of those forms is the accusative case, because söylemek and bilmek both take a direct object. It is not part of the nominalizer.
Negation goes inside the clause, before the nominalizer, exactly where it would sit on a finite verb: gelmediğini (that he did not come), gelmeyeceğini (that he will not come), olmadığını (that there is none).
- Lütfen telefonunun kırılmadığını söyle! (Please tell me your phone wasn’t broken!)
Nominal Sentences, Var and Yok: The Work of Olmak
A Turkish sentence with no verb in it cannot nominalize directly, so ol- steps in and carries the suffix. It covers three patterns at once.
- Hastayım. (I am ill.) becomes hasta olduğumu (that I was ill), and Öğretmenim. (I am a teacher.) becomes öğretmen olduğumu (that I was a teacher).
- Var becomes olduğunu: Buzdolabında yemek olduğunu söyledi. (She said that there was food in the fridge.)
- Yok becomes olmadığını: Evde kimse olmadığını söyledi. (He said that there was nobody home.)
Expressions of necessity follow the same route through gerekmek, which gives the clause its own internal structure:
- Eğitmeni aradım, başlangıç için önce havuzda kısa bir deneme dalışı yapmamız gerektiğini söyledi. (I called the instructor, and he said that for starters, we need to do a short trial dive in a pool first.)
Read that clause from the inside out. Yapmamız is -mA plus a first-person plural possessive. Gerektiğini breaks into gerek-tiğ-i-n-i: -DIK with its D hardened to t after k, then the third-person possessive, the linking n and the accusative. Söyledi governs the whole thing.
Which Case the Reporting Verb Puts on the Clause
Since the reported clause is a noun phrase, the reporting verb governs it the way it would govern any other noun, and Turkish verbs do not all govern the accusative. The Türk Dil Kurumu dictionary marks the case for each verb in its entry, which turns a memorization problem into a lookup.
| Reporting verb | TDK marks it | Clause ends in | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| söylemek (to say, to tell) | -i | accusative | Taşındığını söyledi. (He said that she had moved.) |
| anlatmak (to tell, to explain) | -e, -i | accusative, plus a dative listener | Bana ne olduğunu anlattı. (He told me what had happened.) |
| sormak (to ask) | -e, -i, -den | accusative | Ne zaman döneceğimi sordu. (She asked when I would be back.) |
| düşünmek (to think) | -i | accusative | Treni kaçırdığımı düşündüm. (I thought that I had missed the train.) |
| duymak (to hear) | -i | accusative | Taşındığını duydum. (I heard that she had moved.) |
| öğrenmek (to find out) | -i | accusative | Sınavı geçtiğimi öğrendim. (I found out that I had passed the exam.) |
| hatırlamak (to remember) | -i | accusative | Kapıyı kilitlediğimi hatırlıyorum. (I remember locking the door.) |
| unutmak (to forget) | -i | accusative | Söz verdiğini unutmuş. (Apparently he forgot that he had given his word.) |
| istemek (to want) | -i | accusative | Gelmemi istedi. (She wanted me to come.) |
| bahsetmek (to mention) | -den | ablative | Taşındığından bahsetti. (He mentioned that she had moved.) |
| inanmak (to believe) | -e | dative | Haklı olduğuna inanıyorum. (I believe that he is right.) |
| demek (to say) | nesnesiz, in its speech sense | no nominalized clause | see the next section |
The three bold rows are where sentences break. Bahsetmek is marked -den, so the clause ends in the ablative where another verb would want the accusative: Ayşe’nin taşındığından bahsetti. (He mentioned that Ayşe had moved.) The breakdown is taşın-dığ-ı-n-dan. İnanmak is marked -e, so the same clause ends in the dative: Ayşe’nin taşındığına inanıyorum. (I believe that Ayşe has moved.) Change the reporting verb and the final suffix changes with it, while the clause itself stays put.
Why Dedi Cannot Take a Reported Clause
TDK marks the speech sense of demek as nesnesiz, used without an object, while söylemek carries the label -i for an accusative object. Under söylemek the nominalized clause takes that accusative, and demek has no slot to put it in. This is not a ban on objects after demek, since Bunu dedim. (I said this.) is ordinary Turkish. What demek does not take is the nominalized clause, and that leaves three working alternatives.
Struck-through forms in this article are incorrect and must not be copied.
Geldiğini dedi.(wrong: a nominalized clause goes with söylemek, not demek)- Geldiğini söyledi. (He said that he had come.)
The first alternative is direct speech, which keeps the original words and lets dedi do its job: Ali, “Yarın gelirim” dedi. (Ali said, “I will come tomorrow.”) The quotative diye works the same way, after a quotation or a clause whose verb stays conjugated: “Yarın geleceğim” diye düşündü. (She thought, “I will come tomorrow.”) TDK defines it as the word that links that content to the verb with the force of diyerek, which is why it turns up with verbs of asking and thinking rather than with nominalized clauses.
The second is dedi ki, where ki joins two clauses and the verb in the second one stays conjugated: Ali dedi ki yarın gelecek. (Ali said that he would come tomorrow.) TDK classifies this ki as a bağlaç, a conjunction, and it is the one Turkish construction that lines up with the English “that”. It belongs to speech and to writing that imitates speech.
The third is the nominalized clause with a verb that accepts an object, which is the form the rest of this article describes: Ali yarın geleceğini söyledi.
How to Report an Order or a Request
-mA reports an action that somebody asks for, orders or recommends, rather than an action that happened. The possessive suffix identifies the person who is supposed to act, and with söylemek the accusative follows.
That possessive is what -mAk cannot carry, and it is the whole difference between the two. Yüzmek istiyorum. (I want to swim.) needs no possessive, because the wanter and the swimmer are the same person. Yüzmemi istedi. (She wanted me to swim.) needs one, because they are not.
verb stem + -mA + possessive + accusative + reporting verb
| Original order | Reported version |
|---|---|
| Annem, bana “Televizyonu kapat” dedi. (My mom said to me, “Turn off the TV.”) | Annem televizyonu kapatmamı söyledi. (My mom told me to turn off the TV.) |
| Ali, “Bizi bekleyin” dedi. (Ali said, “Wait for us.”) | Ali onları beklememizi söyledi. (Ali told us to wait for them.) |
| Babam, “Bu filmi izleme” dedi. (My dad said, “Don’t watch this movie.”) | Babam bu filmi izlemememi söyledi. (My dad told me not to watch this movie.) |
The third row carries -mA twice in İzlemememi: once for the negation and once for the nominalization, giving izle-me-me-m-i. Drop one of them and the sentence reports the opposite instruction.
The verbs istemek, rica etmek, tavsiye etmek and önermek take the same -mA clause with a possessive suffix. Tur rehberi, Kapadokya’da balon turu yapmamızı tavsiye etti. (The tour guide recommended that we take a hot air balloon tour in Cappadocia.) For the forms of the original order, see the guide to the imperative.
How to Report a Question
Reported questions split into two kinds, and the split matches English fairly closely.
A question built on a question word keeps that word and nominalizes the verb: Nerede olduğumu sordu. (She asked where I was.) Kim olduğunu sordu. (He asked who it was.) The question word stays in place, and sordu takes the accusative clause.
- Ben ne olduğunu anlamaya çalıştığım sırada maymun ağaca tırmanmaya başladı. (While I was trying to understand what was happening, the monkey started climbing a tree.)
A yes-or-no question has no question word to keep, so Turkish builds “whether” out of the verb itself, in the affirmative and then in the negative: -(y)Ip on the first, the nominalized negative on the second.
- Hasta olup olmadığımı sordu. (She asked whether I was ill.)
- Gelip gelmeyeceğini sordu. (He asked whether she would come.)
Diye reports the same question with a conjugated verb, keeping the original question particle: Gelecek mi diye sordu. (He asked whether she would come.) Both constructions are in regular use, and the -(y)Ip one is the one that nominalizes.
How -mIş Differs From a Reported Clause
The reported past tense marks information that reached you indirectly, and it nominalizes nothing. The two do different jobs, so a sentence takes either or both:
- Ali gelmiş. (Apparently Ali came.) The suffix presents the arrival as something learned rather than witnessed, whether reported by somebody else or inferred on the spot, with no reporting verb and nobody named.
- Ali’nin geldiğini duydum. (I heard that Ali came.) The clause is nominalized, and duydum says how the information arrived.
- Ayşe’nin söylediğine göre Ali gelmiş. (According to Ayşe, Ali came.) Both at once: a nominalized clause names the source, and -mIş keeps the arrival second-hand.
A reporting verb takes the evidential suffix itself when the report reached you the same way: Taşındığımı duymuş. (Apparently she heard that I had moved.)
Common Mistakes With Reported Speech in Turkish
Each struck form below is the error, with its correction underneath.
Geldiğini dedi.(wrong: a nominalized clause goes with söylemek, not demek)- Geldiğini söyledi. (He said that he had come.)
Ali, Ayşe geldiğini söyledi.(wrong: the clause subject needs the genitive)- Ali, Ayşe’nin geldiğini söyledi. (Ali said that Ayşe had come.)
Yarın geldiğini söyledi.(wrong: an arrival still to come takes -(y)AcAK)- Yarın geleceğini söyledi. (She said that she would come tomorrow.)
Gelmek söyledi.(wrong: -mAk carries no person, so it cannot report a request)- Gelmemi söyledi. (He told me to come.)
Hasta olduğumu sordu.(wrong for a yes-or-no question: it states the illness instead of asking about it)- Hasta olup olmadığımı sordu. (She asked whether I was ill.)
Conclusion
In the nominalized pattern, the quoted sentence becomes a noun in -DIK, -(y)AcAK or -mA, the possessive names whose action it was, and the reporting verb decides the final case. From hasta olduğunu söyledi to hasta olup olmadığımı sordu, nothing inside the clause is conjugated, while the ki and diye constructions keep their verb and stay the exception. Most of what you pass on in a day runs through these forms, from what a colleague promised to what a doctor asked.
Read next: how to say “when” in Turkish puts the same -DIK clause to work in time expressions, from -dığında, which ends in the locative, to -dığı zaman, which hands the job to the noun zaman.
