what is it?
The past continuous is formed by combining the present-continuous suffix -(I)yor with the past copular suffix -DI plus a personal ending. The result expresses an action or state that was in progress at a specific moment in the past (was/were …ing), or a repeated action that was typical of a past period (used to …). It is the direct past-tense counterpart of the present continuous: wherever geliyor describes something happening now, geliyordu places that same ongoing action in the past.
when to use it
Action in progress at a past moment. Use -(I)yordu when one action was already underway when something else happened, or when you are describing the background scene of a past narrative. English equivalent: «was/were …ing».
Habitual or repeated action in the past. Use -(I)yordu for something that happened regularly over a past period but no longer does. English equivalent: «used to …» or «would …» (in a narrative sense).
Past states. Stative verbs (knowing, understanding, wanting, etc.) that describe a condition rather than an event also take -(I)yordu to express that the state held over a past period.
formation
The suffix chain is: verb stem + -(I)yor + -du/dü/tu/tü + personal ending. Three rules govern the shape of each part.
-(I)yor buffer vowel. If the stem ends in a consonant, a buffer vowel is inserted before -yor: ı/i/u/ü according to four-way vowel harmony with the stem's last vowel. If the stem ends in a vowel, that vowel drops and -yor attaches directly (e.g. bekle- → bekliyor).
-DI consonant mutation. The D of the past copula is always d here because -yor ends in the voiced consonant r. The vowel of -DI follows two-way back/front harmony with the stem's last vowel: -du (back rounded), -dü (front rounded), -du (back unrounded → also du), -di (front unrounded). In practice the vowel of -(I)yor is always o, so the copula vowel harmonises with the stem, not with o.
Personal endings. The endings after -DI are the same set used in the simple past tense: -m, -n, ∅, -k, -nız/niz/nuz/nüz, -lar/ler.
Full conjugation of gel- (to come) and gör- (to see):
| person | gel- (to come) | gör- (to see) |
|---|---|---|
| ben (I) | geliyordum | görüyordum |
| sen (you, sg.) | geliyordun | görüyordun |
| o (he/she/it) | geliyordu | görüyordu |
| biz (we) | geliyorduk | görüyorduk |
| siz (you, pl./formal) | geliyordunuz | görüyordunuz |
| onlar (they) | geliyorlardı | görüyorlardı |
The third-person plural onlar form places the plural marker -lar/-ler before the past copula: geliyorlardı, not *geliyordular (though the latter is heard in informal speech).
examples in context
common pitfalls
Using simple past -DI instead of -(I)yordu.
Geldim means «I came» — a completed event. Geliyordum means «I was coming» — an action in progress. Choosing the wrong form changes the meaning entirely. Ask yourself: was the action completed and bounded, or was it ongoing/habitual?
Wrong vowel harmony on the -DI copula.
The copula vowel harmonises with the verb stem, not with the o in -yor. gel- has a front vowel, so the copula is -du — giving geliyordum, not *geliyordüm. Check the stem's last vowel, not the suffix immediately before -DI.
Stacking two past markers.
A form like *geldiyordum — combining the simple past -di with the present continuous -yor — does not exist in Turkish. The past meaning comes entirely from the copular -du/-dü added after -yor. Never insert a past suffix into the stem before -yor.
Three sentences, graded here. Nothing is saved and no account is needed.
Büyükelçiler o gün basın toplantısında ___ ; sadece dinliyorlardı. (konuşmak)
Fill in the blank with the correct past continuous form of the verb in parentheses.