Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

(iii) The aorist form of the verb often has future time reference, but any tense component
of its meaning is conditioned by its primary function as a marker of various kinds of
modality (see 21.4.1.4, 21.4.4.5–6).
(iv) The construction -mAk üzere ‘on the point of…ing’ can be used to express action
that is or was imminent:
(23) [Sen telefon et-tiğ-in sıra-da] sokağ-a çık-mak üzere-ydi-m.
you telephone-AUX-CV-2SG.POSS time-LOC street-DAT
go.out-VN on-P.COP-1SG
‘I was on the point of going out [when you rang].’
For the converbial uses of -mAk üzere see 26.3.2, 26.3.12.
21.3 ASPECT
Aspect is that part of the grammar of a language which expresses the temporal viewpoint
from which a situation is presented. It may be viewed ‘from the outside’, as a completed
whole, with both its starting point and its endpoint visible. This is called perfective
aspect. Alternatively it may be viewed ‘from the inside’, as being incomplete and
ongoing at the time in question. This internal perspective, known as imperfective aspect,
is also the typical viewpoint for the presentation of static situations (states).
At another level, imperfective forms are used for presenting any kind of situation
(event or state) as occurring habitually, or as a general rule or pattern. In habitual
statements it is the recurring pattern of events, rather than any individual event or state,
that is presented as ongoing at the time in question.
21.3.1 PERFECTIVE AND IMPERFECTIVE
The distinction between perfective and imperfective applies mainly to sentences in the
past tense. In Turkish, perfective aspect is expressed by the verbal suffixes -DI and -mIş,
and imperfective aspect is expressed by the verbal suffixes -(I)yor, -mAktA and -(A/I)r,
and by the past copular marker -(y)DI.
Perfective:
(24)
Imperfective:
(25)
Turkish: A comprehensive grammar 288
(a) Geçen hafta her gün iki saat çalış-tı-m.
work-PF-1SG
‘Last week I worked for two hours every day.’
(b) İki saat çalış-mış-ım.
work-EV/PF-1SG
‘I seem to have worked for two hours.’