Özet:

The subject of this article is the -Dİ idi ~ -Dİydİ morpheme in Turkish, which is generally referred to as "the narrative past definite" in Turkish grammars. The aim of the study in which the synchronic method was used; to determine the place of the form -Dİ idi ~ -Dİydİ in the "three-bearing tense" system developed by Viktor Grigorevich Guzev and to shape its meaning by identifying its distinctive features in terms of modality, tense and aspect (aktionstart and aspect). In the literature, it is mentioned that the form -Dİ idi ~ -Dİydİ expresses “distant past”. However, as evidenced by the examples taken from Turkish literary works, it is seen that the form can express various tenses from the very recent past to the distant past. Due to its ability to convey the very recent past, it is suggested in this study that the form loses its relevance with the "past tense section bearing" and is included in the "present tense section bearing tense categories". The -Dİ idi ~ -Dİydİ morpheme differs from -mİş idi ~ -mİştİ, marked with the "postterminal aspect" seme, in that it has an aktionstart seme rather than any aspect seme. The form can express the sense of “remembering/reminder” with the help of words, phrases and the context. But it is not an integral component of its meaning, that is, its seme. -Dİ idi ~ -Dİydİ is inefficient in texts such as official correspondence, newspapers, scientific works that require the use of standard language. It is efficient in daily speech and dialects. -Dİ idi ~ -Dİydİ is a productive and inefficient verb finite form with a meaning consisting of the tense seme indicating that the action was performed in the recent or distant indefinite past before the present tense section, and the aktionstart seme in which the action was performed once or several times and the indicative modality seme.