Learn Hardcore Turkish: Diyalog sırasında ekip üyeleri fikirlerini dürüstçe paylaşıyorlardı. - During the dialogue, team members were sharing their ideas honestly.

sırasında is a postposition meaning “during” or “in the course of.” It comes from sıra (turn/order) + the locative suffix -nda with vowel harmony (sıra → sırasında). You attach it to a noun to say “during X,” for example diyalog sırasında = “during the dialogue.”

What tense/mood is expressed by paylaşıyorlardı, and how is it formed?

paylaşıyorlardı is the past continuous (imperfect) tense. It’s built by adding the present‐continuous suffix -yor to the root paylaş-, then the third-person-plural past ending -lardı. It describes an action that was ongoing or habitual in the past: “they were sharing.”

Why is fikirlerini spelled like that, and what do the suffixes mean?

fikirlerini breaks down into:
• fikir (idea)
• -ler (plural → fikirler)
• -i (3rd-person-plural possessive → fikirleri, “their ideas”)
• -ni (definite accusative → fikirlerini).
In Turkish, definite direct objects take the accusative suffix; here it merges with the possessive suffix to mark “their specific ideas” as the object.

Why is dürüstçe used, and what does the suffix -çe indicate?

dürüstçe is an adverb meaning “honestly.” It’s formed by adding the adverbial suffix -çe/-ca to the adjective dürüst (honest). This suffix turns adjectives into adverbs (similar to English “-ly”), so dürüstçe paylaşıyorlardı = “they were sharing … honestly.”

What is the typical word order in Turkish, and how does this sentence reflect it?

Turkish usually follows Subject–Object–Verb (SOV) order, with time/adverbial phrases often at the beginning. In this sentence:

Diyalog sırasında (time adverbial)
ekip üyeleri (subject)
fikirlerini (object)
dürüstçe (adverb)
paylaşıyorlardı (verb)

That is a standard SOV structure.

Is there an alternative to sırasında, such as esnasında, and are they interchangeable?

Yes. esnasında also means “during” or “in the course of.” It’s a bit more formal or literary but interchangeable with sırasında in most contexts: Diyalog esnasında ekip üyeleri… conveys the same meaning.

Could we use takım or grup instead of ekip, and what’s the nuance?

Yes. ekip, takım, and grup can all mean “team” or “group.”
• ekip often implies a professional/project team.
• takım is common for sports teams or any fixed set of people.
• grup is a general word for any collection of people.
Choose based on context and nuance.

Does the suffix -yorlardı indicate a one‐time action or a repeated/habitual action in the past?

The imperfective -yorlardı can express both a continuous action at a specific moment in the past and a habitual/repeated action. Context decides which. Here it suggests that throughout the dialogue, the members were consistently or repeatedly sharing their ideas.