What Is the ‘Gossip Tense’?

Gossip has a bad reputation. The definition of gossip is “to retail facts, rumors, or behind-the-scenes information about other persons,” but the practice is known for spreading unfounded rumors and secrets about people who aren’t able to refute them. However, practically everyone is guilty of sharing a tidbit of information or relaying some insider knowledge. As the famed journalist Barbara Walters once said, “Show me someone who never gossips, and I will show you someone who is not interested in people.” It feels good to gossip sometimes, and the Turkish language has an interesting feature that supports sharing information. It’s known informally as the “gossip tense.”

This grammatical form highlights when information is secondhand, a quality that would be useful in all languages. In Turkish, using this tense isn’t just a stylistic choice; it’s expected if you’re sharing unverified information. It helps the listener distinguish between established facts and mere hearsay, so failing to use the correct tense can lead to misunderstanding.

Despite its catchy nickname, the term “gossip tense” isn’t technically accurate. This form is actually an add-on suffix that linguists refer to as an “evidential.” In Turkish, this is indicated by a set of suffixes: -mış, -miş, -muş, or -müş. The choice of suffix depends not on how juicy the gossip is, but on the vowel harmony of the word being modified. In Turkish, the vowels in a word and in its suffixes must “match” their sound so that everything flows smoothly.

Depending on the context, these suffixes express uncertainty in various ways, closely meaning something like “I heard that,” “apparently,” “it seems,” or “they say.” Here’s how the suffix “-mış” can transform the verb “almak” (“to buy”) into gossip:

Almak: Verb meaning “she/he bought”
Almış: The verb is transformed into “I heard that she/he bought” by adding the suffix –mış
Example sentence: O pahalı çantayı sonunda almış. / “I heard that she/he finally bought that expensive purse.”