Pencereden baktığımda dostlarım meşalelerle yürüyordu ve ben onları selamladım.

(When I looked out of the window, my friends were walking with torches, and I greeted them.)

Breakdown of Pencereden baktığımda dostlarım meşalelerle yürüyordu ve ben onları selamladım.

• ben: I
• benim: my
• ve: and
• ile: with
• yürümek: to walk
• bakmak: to look
• dost: the friend
• pencere: the window
• -den: from
• onları: them
• meşale: the torch
• selamlamak: to greet

Questions & Answers about Pencereden baktığımda dostlarım meşalelerle yürüyordu ve ben onları selamladım.

What does the suffix -den in pencereden indicate?

-den is the ablative case suffix in Turkish, meaning “from.” So pencereden literally means “from the window,” often understood as “out of the window” or “when looking out of the window.”

How is baktığımda formed? It seems to have several parts.

baktığımda breaks down into four pieces:
• bak- (root “to look”)
• -tı (past tense marker → baktı “looked”)
• -ğım (first-person singular verbal noun/relative clause marker → baktığım “that I looked”)
• -da (time-conjunction suffix “when”)
Altogether baktığımda = “when I looked.”

Why is yürüyordu used instead of a simple past form like yürüdü?

Turkish uses -yor for continuous aspect. When you add the past marker -du, you get past continuous:
yürü (root) + -yor (progressive) + -du (past) = yürüyordu (“was walking”).
Simple past (yürüdü) would mean “walked,” implying a completed action rather than an ongoing one.

Why doesn’t yürüyordu change for the plural subject dostlarım?

In Turkish, third-person verbs don’t show number. Whether the subject is singular or plural, the verb stays the same.
You could optionally say yürüyorlardı (adding -lar to indicate plural), but it’s not required.

What does meşalelerle mean, and why is -le added?

-le/-la is the instrumental/comitative suffix meaning “with.”
meşale = “torch,” meşaleler = “torches,” and meşalelerle = “with torches.”

Why is ben used in ben onları selamladım, since -dım already marks “I”?

Turkish verb endings indicate person, so selamladım alone tells you the subject is “I.”
Adding ben is optional and is used here for emphasis or clarity (“I greeted them,” stressing that it was me).

What role does onları play? Why the -ı ending?

onlar = “they/them.” The suffix -ı marks a definite direct object (accusative).
So onları = “them” as the precise object of selamladım.

Can I put a comma after baktığımda?

Yes. In writing, you may separate an introductory time clause with a comma:
Pencereden baktığımda, dostlarım meşalelerle yürüyordu…
It’s optional and depends on your preferred style.