Lesson 33: Past continuous tense - affirmative, negative, interrogative forms.Conversation:Nejat travels to Ankara

In this lesson we will focus on the Past Continuous Tense.

Listen to this conversation carefully.
This conversation will also provide the input for another kind of past tense that will the object of the next lesson while talking about " REPORTED PAST" or "BELIRSIZ GEÇMİŞ ZAMAN"

" Dün akşam Nejat telefon etti. Ankara'ya gidiyormuş.
Niçin?
Sen duymadın mı?
Neyi?
Dün bir telegram almış. Babası ağır hastaymış.
Şimdi anladım.Demin yolda gördüm. Acele acele gidiyordu.
Bir şey söyledi mi?
Hayır yalnız selam verdi. Ne zaman ankara'ya hareket ediyormuş?
Derhal hareket etmiş."

VOCABULARY/VOCABOLARIO

Duymak (also işitmek):  To hear - sentire  
Niçin:   Why? - perche?
Neyi?:   What -  che cosa?
Gidiyormuş: He is reportedly going.... - Pare stia andando.... (this is a case of REPORTED PAST)
Gidiyordu: Was going - stava andando
Demin: A short while ago - un momento fa, un attimo fa
Derhal: Right away, straight away - immediatamente, subito
Hareket etmek: To go,to leave, to be on the move - Andare, partire.


                                                               GRAMMATICAL NOTES

Before we start analizing the Past continuous tense let's have a look at  Lesson 20 for a moment.
Do you remember the present continuous tense? Well, we have to use this tense as the base to build the Past Continuous Tense and its forms as the rules stay the same.
The past continuous tense is part of the Turkish  "Şimdiki zaman" and describes an action which was taking place in a specific lapse of time in the past.
The contruction of this tense is indeed quite simple and requires the simple attachment to the Present continuous tense conjugation of the following personal  past suffixes:

-DUM   -DUN    -DU    -DUK    -DUNUZ   -DULAR  or  -LARDI 

It's of some importance remark here that suffixes here do not obey to the vowel harmony rule and are unique regardless the suffixes used to form the Present continuous tense from which this tense stems.

A few examples will help better understand this rule:

AFFIRMATIVE FORM

I was going:    Gidiyordum      Gid (infinitive base)  + iyor (present continuos suffix) + dum (personal suffix in past tense)

More examples:

I was reading the newspaper:   Gazeteyi okuyordum

We were crossing the bridge:  Köprüden  geçiyorduk

They were watching tv:           Tv'yi  seyrediyorlardı.

Quite easy isn't it?


NEGATIVE FORM

The negative form obeys to the same rules of the Present continuos tense as illustrated in Lesson 20
We will only ned to attach a "m" right after the infinitive base and the negative sentence is done.
Here the are a few examples:

I wasn't going to school:   Okula gitmiyordum

You weren't doing your homeworks:  ödevinizi  yapmıyordunuz.



INTERROGATIVE FORM and INTERROGATIVE-NEGATIVE FORM

Again look at  Lesson 20  for the contruction of these forms.
Here there are a few examples of interrogative and inerrogative-negative form of Pas continuous:

Were you going to school? : Okula gidiyor muydun?

Were we playing football?   Top oynuyor muyduk?

Weren't you talk to the manager? : Sefle/müdürle konusmuyor muydunuz?

Lesson 32: Simple Past tense - Belirli geçmiş zaman part 2-Negative and interrogative form-Reading passage:"Pazar günü"

In this lesson we will continue on Simple past tense analizing now the negative and the interrogative form.

Listen to this passage carefully a couple of time then read it aloud several times in order to improve your reading skills.

" Dün pazardı.Hava güneşliydi ve herkes evdeydi.Ayla'nın babası işte değildi.Ağabeyi de okulda değildi.Fakat annesi hastaydı ve yataktaydı.Onun için dün yemekleri Ayla yaptı.Ayla önce annesine  bir çorba pişirdi.Fakat çorba sıcaktı ve az tuzluydu.Annesi onu dah sonra içti.Babası hasta değildi,iyiydi.O çorba içmedi.Yalnız pilav yedi.Yemek saat onikide hazırdı.Herkes saat onikide sofradaydı.Sofrada her şey iyiydi ve ekmek tazeydi.
Ayla'nın küçük kardeşi bütün gün sokaktaydı.Top oynadı. Fakat ağabeyi evde,odasındaydı.Sınavı vardı.Ders çalıştı.
Ayla akşam çok yorgundu.Erken yattı ve hemen uyudu."


Vocabulary/Vocabolario

Dün:  Yesterday - ieri
Ayla:  Female name - nome di donna
Ağabey: Elderly brother - fratello maggiore
Fakat:    But - ma
Çorba:   Kind of soup - potage,minestra
Yatak:   Bed - letto
Yalnız:  Only, just - soltanto
Pilav:    Rice - riso
içmek:   to drink - bere
Sofra:    Table - tavola
Ekmek:  Bred - pane
Taze:      fresh - fresco (di cibi)
Yatmak:  to go to bed - andare a letto
Erken:    early - presto


                                                                 GRAMMATICAL NOTES

NEGATIVE FORM

The negative form of the simple present tense is really easy to obtain.
It is sufficient to append the particle "me"or "ma"  between the infinitive base and the group "past - personal suffix".The choice  depend on the infinitive pattern:
We will attach "me" to  infinitive bases  whose pattern ends  in  -MEK, and "ma" to those ending in  -MAK
A few examples to better understand the rule:

I didn't come:     Gelmedim       Gelmek 

She didn't read:  Okumadı        Okumak

It is appropriate to remind you that in building sentences in negative form you will have to apply all the rules already met in the affirmative form to conjugate all the persons.
The only difference is the position of the additional particle "me"or "ma" into the verbal form.


 INTERROGATIVE FORM

The interrogative form  is obtained by adding the interrogative particles   -mi  -mı  -mü  -mu  at the end of the sentence in affirmative form.
The choice of the particle depends on the verb and occurs according the wovel harmony.

A few examples will help better understand:

Did we go?    Gittik mi?

Did she die?   Öldü mü?

Did we work?  Çalıştık mı?

Did I sleep?     Uyudum mu?

It is very easy to figure out which interrogative particle you have to use. Just look at the dominant (final) vowel of the verb in simple past tense and pick up the interrogative particle with the same vowel.


INTERROGATIVE-NEGATIVE FORM

Very easy to form.
Take the simple past tense negative form and add the interrogative particle at the end of the sentence applying the same rule as the interrogative form.

Examples.

Didn't we go?    Gelmedik  mi?

Didn't they drink:  İçmediler mi?

Didn't you play footbal ?  Top oynamadınız mı?