Learn Hardcore Turkish: Geçen hafta parkta yürüdüm.

Turkish verbs include subject information through their endings, so you don’t need a separate pronoun. In yürüdüm, the -düm ending already means “I (did something in the past).” Adding ben would be redundant and is normally omitted.

What tense is yürüdüm, and how is it formed?

Yürüdüm is the simple (definite) past tense. It’s built as:

Verb stem: yürü- (“to walk”)
Past-tense suffix -d(ı/ü), chosen by vowel harmony → -dü (because ü in yürü)
1st-person singular marker -m
Putting it together: yürü-
- -dü
  - -m = yürüdüm (“I walked”).

What case is the -ta in parkta, and why is it -ta instead of -da?

-ta is the locative case marker, meaning “in/at.” The underlying suffix is -da or -de, but Turkish applies consonant devoicing after voiceless consonants. Since park ends in k (a voiceless consonant), d becomes t, giving parkta (“in the park”).