Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

say-NEG-PSB-VN
‘to be able not to say’
Objective possibility and the question of actualization
Objective possibility denotes either the ability of a person to perform a certain action, or
the absence of any impediment to the occurrence of an event. In statements of objective
possibility the choice of tense/aspect/ modality marking (following -(y)Abil/-(y)AmA)
determin es whet her possibility or impossibility is understood as actualized (taking
effect) or not.
Statements with aorist marking simply assert that the possibility of something
happening exists or does not exist, leaving the question of actualization open. Aoristmarked
(im)possibility statements fall into one or other of the categories of modalized
statement typically expressed by the aorist:
(i) Statements of generalized validity (21.4.1.1):
(91) Kaplumbağa hızlı yürü-ye-mez. (cf. (63))
walk-PSB-NEG.AOR
‘A tortoise can’t walk fast.’
(ii) Hypothetical statements (21.4.1.3):
Tense, aspect and modality 301
(92) Masayı şuraya koyabiliriz.
‘We can/could put the table here.’ (If we so decide(d).)
The combination of aorist -(y)Abilir or -(y)AmA(z) with the past copular marker -(y)DI
produces counterfactual meaning, i.e. implies that an action envisaged as having been
possible at some time in the past was not actualized:
(93) Daha uygun bir saat seçebilirdiniz.
‘You could have chosen a more convenient time.’ (Implies that you didn’t.)
(iii) Assumptions and conjectures with future time reference (21.4.1.4 (i)):
(94) Belki bunca zamandan sonra birbirimizi tanı-ya-ma-yız.
recognize-PSB-NEG-1PL
‘Maybe we won’t be able to recognize each other after all this time.’
In contrast to possibility statements with aorist marking, those marked with -DI, -mIş, -
(I)yor or -mAktA (with or without a following -(y)DI) always imply the actualization of
the possibility or impossibility:
(95) Geçen yıl Bodrum’a dört defa gid-ebil-di-k.
go-PSB-PF-1PL
‘Last year we were able to go to Bodrum four times.’ (Implies that we did this.)
(96) Filiz o gün oğluyla konuş-a-ma-mış-tı.
talk-PSB-NEG-PF-P.COP
‘Filiz hadn’t been able to talk to her son that day.’ (Implies that she had not
talked to him.)