I did a short Turkish course in Istanbul last week, and here are some of my notes about the ´miş´ tense.
My teacher listed 7 main ways the tense is used
1 Ben direkt görmedim, ama duydum / TV´de syrettim / okudum ve sonra başka kişiye anlatmak için "miş" kullanıyoruz. (The course was taught in Turkish)
(We use the "miş" tense for when I didn´t see it directly, but I heard it / saw it on TV / or read it, and later I told this to another person)
Annem ve babam 50 yıl önce evlenmişler
(My mother and father were married 50 years ago)
2 Dedikodu (Gossip)
Duydun mu, Angelina Jolie 3 kez hamileymiş.
(Have you heard, Angelina Jolie is pregnant for the 3rd time.)
3 Sonra farketmek (to realise later)
Oo! deniz soğukmuş
(Ooo! the sea water is cold) like when you initially put your foot in the water and realise it is cold.
Hmm! Eline sağlık, yemek çok güzel olmüş.
(Hmm! Health to your hands, the food is very nice) when you try some food and realise it is very tasty.
4 Yalakalık yap (buttering up somebody)
Pembe yalan söyle (telling a small (pink) lie)
5 Sürpriz (for surprises)
Aaa! Cüzdanımı evde unutmuşum.
(Aaa! I must have left my wallet at home)
When you go to pay someone and discover your wallet is not in your pants or bag.
Or when you look out your window in the morning and discover everything is covered in snow, because it snowed last night. You hadn´t seen it snow, but obviously it has.
6 "meğer" realite farklı, "güya" yalan varsa (different to what you thought)
Güya ben rakı içmişim sarhoş olmuşum, ama hepsi yalan.
(Supposedly I drank raki and was drunk, but it was all a lie.)
Meğer gelmemiş.
(It seems that he didn´t come.)
7 Masal, fıkra ve hikaye (Tales, annecdotes and stories)
Bir varmış, bir yokmuş (once upon a time)
bir zamanlar (at one time)
Some other things that may help you .....
Bebekken saçlarım sapsarıymış. (Here you should use ´imiş´
(When I was a baby my haır was very blonde.)
Çocukken saçlarım sapsarıydı. (Here it´s OK to use ´idi´
(When I was a child my hair was very blonde.)
Very useful notes Henry. Thanks.