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Prerequisites for this Turkish Grammar Lesson
Past tense copula: how to say “was”idi
-(y)dı
vardı, yoktu
değildi
-mıyor
-mıyor musun?
-mamak
Using ‑ıyordu to say that someone was doing something
If you already know how to use the ‑ıyor continuous present tense ending and the ‑(y)dı past tense copula ending, you can combine these two endings together to say that someone was doing something in the past.
This has a few uses in Turkish, including the following:
- Describing something that was going on to give context for something that happened in the past (e.g. “it was raining”)
- Talking about something that used to happen regularly (e.g. “I used to go there”)
- Talking about a situation or state of being in the past that was ongoing (e.g., “I lived there”)
- Talking about something that almost happened, or was about to happen (e.g., “I was going to fall”)
In many cases, the ‑ıyordu ending is equivalent to the grammatical structure in English where we combine “was” with a verb ending in the continuous ‑ing ending. However, there are a few cases where Turkish uses ‑ıyordu but English normally just uses the past tense. This is especially true with certain verbs such as “bilmek” (to know) and “istemek” (to want).
Grammar forms
- (Verb stem) + ı/i/u/ü + yor + du + (personal ending)
- (Verb stem) + ı/i/u/ü + yor + lar + dı
To say that someone was doing something in the past, simply add the ‑ıyor ending to the verb like usual, then add the past tense ‑dı/di/du/dü ending along with the appropriate personal ending.
Note that since the “o” in ‑ıyor is an exception to vowel harmony and never changes, the past tense ending will normally be ‑du, with the “u” matching the “o” in ‑ıyor. However, in the case of the third person plural ‑lar ending, this ending goes before the past tense ending, so it will be ‑ıyorlardı
The ‑ıyordu ending on “yapmak” (to do)
| Turkish | English |
| Yapıyordum | I was doing [it] |
| Yapıyordun | You were doing [it] |
| Yapıyordu | He/she was doing [it] |
| Yapıyorduk | We were doing [it] |
| Yapıyordunuz | You (plural or formal) were doing [it] |
| Yapıyordu / Yapıyorlardı | They were doing [it] |
Example sentences*
Aynı şehirde oturuyorduk.
We were living in the same city.
Her şey çok güzel gidiyordu.
Everything was going very well.
[Onlar] Çok iyi biliyordu.
They were knowing very well.
Program çok başarılı gidiyordu.
The program was going quite successfully.
Meltem domates çorbası içiyordu.
Meltem was drinking tomato soup.
İyi bir performans sergiliyordu.
He was putting on a good performance.
Çok sabırlı oynuyorduk.
We were playing very patiently.
Yağmur yağıyordu.
It was raining.
Hava erken kararıyordu.
The weather was getting dark early.
Zaman zaman ağlıyordu. Pişmanlık duyuyordu.
He was crying from time to time. He was feeling remorse.
Ben kiralık yazlık tutuyordum.
I was renting a summer house.
Akşam yemeği hazırlıyordu.
She was preparing dinner.
Sohbet ediyorduk.
We were chatting.
Bir rüya görüyordum demin.
I was dreaming just now.
Sadece o konuşuyordu.
Only he was talking.
Dışarıda kar yağıyordu.
It was snowing outside.
Çok iyi para kazanıyordum.
I was earning very good money.
Başka işler yapmak istiyordum.
I was wanting to do other jobs.
Onlar ağlıyordu.
They were crying.
Biz, ne biliyorduk?
What did we know?
O ne diyordu?
What was he saying?
Her yer yanıyordu.
It was burning all over.
Gerçekten çok iyi anlaşıyorduk.
We were really getting along very well.
Savaşın etkileri devam ediyordu.
The effects of the war were ongoing.
Peki millet ne düşünüyordu?
So, what were the people thinking?
Dört kişiydiler. Kimdi onlar? Ne istiyorlardı?
There were four of them. Who were they? What were they wanting?
Onlar gibi olmak istiyorduk.
We wanted to be like them.
Sabah kahvaltı ediyordum.
I was having breakfast in the morning.
Using ‑ıyordu in negative sentences
As with other verbs, forming a negative sentence with the ‑ıyordu ending is as simple as adding the ‑m ending before adding ‑ıyordu.
Negative examples
Özenç hiç İngilizce konuşmuyordu.
Özenç did not speak English at all.
Ben zaten girmek istemiyordum.
I didn’t want to go in anyway.
Film ilerlemiyordu.
The movie was not progressing.
Kıpırdamıyordu.
He was not moving.
Using ‑ıyordu in yes-or-no questions
To ask a yes or no question using the ‑ıyordu ending, it is similar to other questions using the mı/mi/mu/mü yes-or-no question word. The only thing you need to know is that you need to put the “mu” between ‑ıyor and ‑ydu.
Examples with questions
Korkuyor muydun?
Were you afraid?
Biliyor muydunuz?
Did you know?
Using ‑ıyordu to mean “almost”
In some cases, using the ‑ıyordu ending means that something almost happened. To make the meaning clearer, one of the following phrases meaning “almost” is often added to the sentence: “az daha,” “az kalsın” or “neredeyse.”
Note that while this usage is possible with ‑ıyordu, it is much more common with the ‑acaktı (“was going to”) ending.
Examples of ‑ıyordu with “almost” meaning
Az daha ölüyordum!
I almost died!
Az kalsın unutuyordum.
I almost forgot.
Neredeyse iptal ediyordum!
I just about canceled it!
* Unless otherwise specified, all Turkish example sentences included in this lesson were retrieved from TS Corpus v2, a large corpus of Turkish texts compiled from various sources.
This lesson is a prerequisite for:
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