Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

‘I am supposedly obstinate.’
Tense, aspect and modality 311
An information-based 2nd person evidential utterance presents to the hearer some
information about himself/herself that the speaker has acquired from another source.
(138) Siz babamla tanışıyormuşsunuz galiba.
‘I believe you know/knew my father.’
21.4.3.2 Result-based evidential statements
Another use of the verbal suffix -mIş is to express the occurrence of an event that the
speaker did not witness but is able to infer from its result, to which s/he has direct access.
For example, any comment on a manufactured item which refers to something that was
evidently done or not done during the course of its production requires to be expressed in
this form. The same applies to the reporting of an accidental event such as a burst or
breakage, which the speaker did not witness but whose result s/he has encountered.
(139) (Commenting on a painting)
Ressam iki figürün a rasını boş bırakmış.
‘The painter has left the space between the two figures empty.’
(140) (On finding one’s glasses are not in one’s bag/pocket)
Gözlüğümü yanıma almamışım.
‘I seem not to have brought my glasses with me.’
21.4.3.3 Use of the evidential copula to express a newly discovered state
of affairs
Another use of the evidential copula -(y)mIş is to indicate that the state of affairs
described is a new discovery as far as the speaker is concerned. There is often an element
of surprise.
(141) (On opening the fridge)
Aaa, yiyecek hiçbir şey yokmuş.
‘Oh, there’s absolutely nothing to eat.
(142) (First comment to a friend after meeting his sister)
Kardeşin pek tatlıymış.
‘Your sister is lovely.’
21.4.3.4 Evidentiality in questions
The function of an evidential marker in a question differs from its function in a statement
in one fundamental respect. Here it is not the speaker’s own knowledge but the hearer’s
that is being marked as indirect. If the speaker anticipates that, in answering his/her
question, the hearer will be passing on information gained indirectly, or presenting a new
discovery, s/he will recognize this by marking the question evidentially:
(143) (Addressed to someone reading the financial page of the newspaper)