Past Continuous / Imperfect (-iyordu)

The Past Continuous Tense (Şimdiki Zamanın Hikayesi) describes actions that were ongoing or in progress at a specific point in the past. It's equivalent to "was/were -ing" in English.

Formation:

Verb Stem + Present Continuous Suffix (-iyor, with buffer vowel rules) + Past Tense Suffix (-du, harmonizes with 'o' in -iyor) + Personal Suffix.

Essentially, it's the present continuous form (geliyor) combined with the past tense of "to be" (idi, which becomes -du when suffixed).

• gel- → geliyordu (was coming)
• yap- → yapıyordu (was doing)

Conjugation (okumak - to read):

Negation:

The negative is formed by negating the present continuous part: -mıyordu. Example: Ben okumuyordum. (I was not reading.)