Kazakh Habitual Past and the "Used-To" Aspect

Kazakh grammar for beginners · Expressing past routines in {{-атын / -етін / -йтын / -йтін}} and habitual participles

In previous lessons, you studied the witnessed simple past in -dy / -dı (-ды / -ді) for specific past events and the distant past in -ğan / -gen (-ған / -ген) for experienced actions. To express past habits, repeated routines, or customary actions ("I used to go", "she would come"), Kazakh uses the Habitual Past Tense (Auyspaly ötken şaq (Ауыспалы өткен шақ)).

This tense is built by attaching the habitual participle suffix -atyn / -etın / -ityn / -itın (-атын / -етін / -йтын / -йтін) to the verb stem, followed by predicate personal endings. It directly corresponds to the Turkish habitual past in -erdi / -ardı / -irdi / -ürdü.

When used without personal endings directly before a noun, the same suffix creates habitual noun modifiers and participles, describing tools, occupations, or individuals by the action they regularly perform.

Habitual past suffix variants

The verb stem ends in	Back vowel (a, o, ū, y (а, о, ұ, ы))	Front vowel (ä, e, ö, ü, ı (ә, е, ө, ү, і))
a consonant	-atyn (-атын)	-etın (-етін)
a vowel	-ityn (-йтын)	-itın (-йтін)

The suffix attaches directly to the verb stem according to back-and-front vowel harmony.

The shapes of the habitual participle on bare stems

Attaching the suffix directly to the stem creates the third-person habitual form ("he used to go", "she used to come"), as well as the participle that modifies nouns.

baratyn баратын

used to go · Turkish: giderdi (varırdı)

Consonant stem bar- (бар-) with back vowel takes -atyn (-атын).

keletın келетін

used to come · Turkish: gelirdi

Consonant stem kel- (кел-) with front vowel takes -etın (-етін).

jazatyn жазатын

used to write · Turkish: yazardı

Voiced consonant stem jaz- (жаз-) takes -atyn (-атын).

oqityn оқитын

used to read / used to study · Turkish: okurdu

Vowel stem oqy- (оқы-) combines with -ityn (-йтын) into oqityn (оқитын).

söileitın сөйлейтін

used to speak · Turkish: konuşurdu

Front vowel stem söile- (сөйле-) takes -itın (-йтін).

Personal endings for the Habitual Past

Person	Pronoun	Attached to -atyn / -ityn (-атын / -йтын)	Attached to -etın / -itın (-етін / -йтін)
1st singular ("I")	Men (Мен)	-myn (-мын)	-mın (-мін)
2nd singular informal ("you")	Sen (Сен)	-syñ (-сың)	-sıñ (-сің)
2nd singular polite ("you")	Sız (Сіз)	-syz (-сыз)	-sız (-сіз)
3rd singular ("he / she / it")	Ol (Ол)	—	—
1st plural ("we")	Bız (Біз)	-byz (-быз)	-bız (-біз)
2nd plural informal ("you all")	Sender (Сендер)	-syñdar (-сыңдар)	-sıñder (-сіңдер)
2nd plural polite ("you all")	Sızder (Сіздер)	-syzdar (-сыздар)	-sızder (-сіздер)
3rd plural ("they")	Olar (Олар)	—	—

Because -atyn (-атын) ends in the voiced nasal n (н), the first person plural ending is voiced -byz / -bız (-быз / -біз).

The full habitual paradigm: back-vowel stem bar- (бар-) ("to go")

Attaching -atyn- (-атын-) and personal endings to the stem bar- (бар-) ("to go"). All eight persons appear in full sequence with their explicit subject pronouns.

Men baratynmyn Мен баратынмын

I used to go · Turkish: Ben giderdim (varırdım)

1st person singular: stem bar- (бар-) + -atyn- (-атын-) + -myn (-мын).

Sen baratynsyñ Сен баратынсың

you used to go · Turkish: Sen giderdin

2nd person singular informal: stem bar- (бар-) + -atyn- (-атын-) + -syñ (-сың).

Sız baratynsyz Сіз баратынсыз

you used to go · Turkish: Siz giderdiniz

2nd person singular polite: stem bar- (бар-) + -atyn- (-атын-) + -syz (-сыз).

Ol baratyn Ол баратын

he used to go, she used to go · Turkish: O giderdi

3rd person singular: stem bar- (бар-) + -atyn (-атын) (no personal ending).

Bız baratynbyz Біз баратынбыз

we used to go · Turkish: Biz giderdik

1st person plural: stem bar- (бар-) + -atyn- (-атын-) + -byz (-быз).

Sender baratynsyñdar Сендер баратынсыңдар

you all used to go · Turkish: Siz giderdiniz

2nd person plural informal: stem bar- (бар-) + -atyn- (-атын-) + -syñdar (-сыңдар).

Sızder baratynsyzdar Сіздер баратынсыздар

you all used to go · Turkish: Siz giderdiniz

2nd person plural polite: stem bar- (бар-) + -atyn- (-атын-) + -syzdar (-сыздар).

Olar baratyn Олар баратын

they used to go · Turkish: Onlar giderlerdi

3rd person plural: stem bar- (бар-) + -atyn (-атын).

The full habitual paradigm: front-vowel stem kel- (кел-) ("to come")

Attaching -etın- (-етін-) and front-vowel personal endings to the stem kel- (кел-) ("to come").

Men keletınmın Мен келетінмін

I used to come · Turkish: Ben gelirdim

1st person singular: stem kel- (кел-) + -etın- (-етін-) + -mın (-мін).

Sen keletınsıñ Сен келетінсің

you used to come · Turkish: Sen gelirdin

2nd person singular informal: stem kel- (кел-) + -etın- (-етін-) + -sıñ (-сің).

Sız keletınsız Сіз келетінсіз

you used to come · Turkish: Siz gelirdiniz

2nd person singular polite: stem kel- (кел-) + -etın- (-етін-) + -sız (-сіз).

Ol keletın Ол келетін

he used to come, she used to come · Turkish: O gelirdi

3rd person singular: stem kel- (кел-) + -etın (-етін).

Bız keletınbız Біз келетінбіз

we used to come · Turkish: Biz gelirdik

1st person plural: stem kel- (кел-) + -etın- (-етін-) + -bız (-біз).

Sender keletınsıñder Сендер келетінсіңдер

you all used to come · Turkish: Siz gelirdiniz

2nd person plural informal: stem kel- (кел-) + -etın- (-етін-) + -sıñder (-сіңдер).

Sızder keletınsızder Сіздер келетінсіздер

you all used to come · Turkish: Siz gelirdiniz

2nd person plural polite: stem kel- (кел-) + -etın- (-етін-) + -sızder (-сіздер).

Olar keletın Олар келетін

they used to come · Turkish: Onlar gelirlerdi

3rd person plural: stem kel- (кел-) + -etın (-етін).

Pronoun dropping with habitual verbs

Subject pronouns can be dropped freely because personal endings identify the grammatical subject.

Men baratynmyn → baratynmyn Мен баратынмын → баратынмын

I used to go → used to go · Turkish: Ben giderdim → giderdim

1st person singular with pronoun dropped.

Bız keletınbız → keletınbız Біз келетінбіз → келетінбіз

we used to come → used to come · Turkish: Biz gelirdik → gelirdik

1st person plural with pronoun dropped.

Sız jazatynsyz → jazatynsyz Сіз жазатынсыз → жазатынсыз

you used to write → used to write · Turkish: Siz yazardınız → yazardınız

2nd person polite with pronoun dropped.

The full negative habitual paradigm

To form the negative habitual past ("used not to do / would not do"), attach the negative suffix -ma / -me / -ba / -be / -pa / -pe (-ма / -ме / -ба / -бе / -па / -пе) directly to the verb stem, followed by -ityn / -itın (-йтын / -йтін) and personal endings.

Men barmaitynmyn Мен бармайтынмын

I used not to go · Turkish: Ben gitmezdim

1st person singular: stem bar- (бар-) + -ma- (-ма-) + -ityn- (-йтын-) + -myn (-мын).

Sen kelmeitınsıñ Сен келмейтінсің

you used not to come · Turkish: Sen gelmezdin

2nd person singular informal: stem kel- (кел-) + -me- (-ме-) + -itın- (-йтін-) + -sıñ (-сің).

Sız jazbaitynsyz Сіз жазбайтынсыз

you used not to write · Turkish: Siz yazmazdınız

2nd person singular polite: stem jaz- (жаз-) + -ba- (-ба-) + -ityn- (-йтын-) + -syz (-сыз).

Ol aitpaityn Ол айтпайтын

he used not to say, she used not to say · Turkish: O söylemezdi (demezdi)

3rd person singular: stem ait- (айт-) + -pa- (-па-) + -ityn (-йтын) (no personal ending).

Bız barmaitynbyz Біз бармайтынбыз

we used not to go · Turkish: Biz gitmezdik

1st person plural: stem bar- (бар-) + -ma- (-ма-) + -ityn- (-йтын-) + -byz (-быз).

Sender kelmeitınsıñder Сендер келмейтінсіңдер

you all used not to come · Turkish: Siz gelmezdiniz

2nd person plural informal: stem kel- (кел-) + -me- (-ме-) + -itın- (-йтін-) + -sıñder (-сіңдер).

Sızder oqymaitynsyzdar Сіздер оқымайтынсыздар

you all used not to read · Turkish: Siz okumazdınız

2nd person plural polite: stem oqy- (оқы-) + -ma- (-ма-) + -ityn- (-йтын-) + -syzdar (-сыздар).

Olar aitpaityn Олар айтпайтын

they used not to say · Turkish: Onlar söylemezlerdi

3rd person plural: stem ait- (айт-) + -pa- (-па-) + -ityn (-йтын).

The habitual participle modifying nouns

When placed directly before a noun without personal endings, the form in -atyn / -etın / -ityn / -itın (-атын / -етін / -йтын / -йтін) acts as a participle describing customary function, tools, or repeated characteristics.

This matches the Turkish participle in -an / -en or functional compound nouns.

kır juatyn maşina кір жуатын машина

washing machine (literally "machine that washes clothes") · Turkish: çamaşır makinesi (çamaşır yıkayan makine)

Participle juatyn (жуатын) ("which washes") modifying maşina (машина) ("machine").

añ alatyn qūs аң алатын құс

hunting bird (bird trained for hunting) · Turkish: av kuşu (av alan kuş)

Participle alatyn (алатын) ("which takes / catches") modifying qūs (құс) ("bird").

söileitın adam сөйлейтін адам

person who speaks / speaker · Turkish: konuşan insan (söyleyen adam)

Participle söileitın (сөйлейтін) modifying adam (адам) ("person").

Communicative sentences and past time expressions

On jyl būryn Düisen hat tanymaityn. Он жыл бұрын Дүйсен хат танымайтын.

Ten years ago Duisen did not recognize letters (was illiterate). · Turkish: On yıl önce Düysen yazı (mektup) tanımazdı.

Time phrase On jyl būryn (Он жыл бұрын) ("ten years ago") with negative habitual verb tanymaityn (танымайтын).

Ol būryn auylda tūratyn. Ол бұрын ауылда тұратын.

He used to live in the village previously. · Turkish: O eskiden köyde otururdu (yaşardı).

Adverb būryn (бұрын) ("previously / before") with locative auylda (ауылда) and habitual verb tūratyn (тұратын).

Bız jazda tauğa baratynbyz. Біз жазда тауға баратынбыз.

We used to go to the mountains in the summer. · Turkish: Biz yazın dağa giderdik.

Time noun jazda (жазда) ("in summer") with dative tauğa (тауға) and 1st-person plural baratynbyz (баратынбыз).

Comparing Kazakh Habitual Past to Turkish

Turkish forms the habitual past tense using Geniş Zaman combined with the past auxiliary -di (yazardım, gelirdin, okurdu). Kazakh expresses this directly with the unified suffix -atyn / -etın / -ityn / -itın (-атын / -етін / -йтын / -йтін) and personal endings (jazatynmyn (жазатынмын), keletınsıñ (келетінсің), oqityn (оқитын)).

In the negative, Turkish uses -mezdi / -mazdı (gitmezdim, gelmezdik). Kazakh inserts the standard verbal negative suffix before -ityn / -itın (-йтын / -йтін) (barmaitynmyn (бармайтынмын), kelmeitınbız (келмейтінбіз)).

Both languages freely use these habitual forms as attributive participles to create compound object names (Kazakh kır juatyn maşina (кір жуатын машина) answers to Turkish çamaşır yıkayan makine / çamaşır makinesi).

Keep going

← Distant Past and Past Participle · Reported and Narrative Past →

All Kazakh lessons

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Turkish ↔ Kazakh Sound Laws — Six rules that unlock hundreds of words for free
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Seasons — The four, and the weather that comes with them
The Plural — One suffix, six written shapes
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Personal Pronouns — Four ways to say "you", one word for "he" and "she"
Possessive — The ending goes on the thing owned
Family and Kinship — Lineages, generational ties, and reciprocal kinship
The Copula — Saying "I am a teacher" with no verb at all
Saying What Something Is Not — One extra word, and the personal ending moves onto it
Asking a Question — One small word at the end, and nothing else moves
Having and Not Having — No verb "to have" — only "there is" and "there is not"
Where: the Locative — Location and time: one ending
Where to: the Dative — Direction, destination, recipient, and purpose
Where from: the Ablative — Starting points, origins, and standards of comparison
Whose: the Genitive — Possession, definite noun phrases, and relationships
What: the Accusative — The thing an action is done to — marked only when it is a particular one
With: the Instrumental — Who you did it with, and what you did it with
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Future Tenses — Definite intentions in {{-мақ / -мек}} and probable futures in {{-ар / -ер / -р}}
Desires, Intentions and Optatives — Expressing wishes in {{-ғым келеді}} and making proposals in {{-айын / -айық}}
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Sequential Converbs and Action Chains — Linking consecutive actions in {{-ып / -іп / -п}} without repeating conjunctions
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Necessity, Obligation and Possibility — Expressing "must", "need to" and "might" with {{керек}}, {{қажет}} and {{мүмкін}}
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