The Past Continuous Tense
To talk about actions that were ongoing in the past (like "was writing") or former habits (like "used to play"), use the past continuous tense.
Create this tense by combining the present continuous suffix (-ıyor, -iyor, -uyor, -üyor) with the past tense suffix -du. Because the last vowel of the present continuous suffix is always o, the past suffix attached to it will always be -du.
This gives us the combined ending -ıyordu (or -iyordu, -uyordu, -üyordu).
| The man was writing a letter with this typewriter. | Adam bu daktilo ile mektup yazıyordu. |
| The secretary was pressing every key hard on the typewriter. | Sekreter daktiloda her tuşa sert basıyordu. |
Ongoing Actions and Past Habits
You can use this tense to set the scene for a story, describing what was happening at a specific moment in the past. It also works perfectly for talking about nostalgic routines or how things used to be done before modern technology.
| He was pressing the red button and the camera was recording. | O kırmızı tuşa basıyordu ve kamera kaydediyordu. |
| The child was looking at the album and listening to a cassette. | Çocuk albüme bakıyordu ve kaset dinliyordu. |
| The student was winding the cassette with a pen. | Öğrenci kaseti bir kalem ile sarıyordu. |
When talking about a sequence of past habits or a step-by-step process in the past, just use the past continuous ending for each verb.
| The woman was dialing a number on the phone. | Kadın telefonda bir numara çeviriyordu. |
| She was first dialing the number, then pressing the button. | O önce numarayı çeviriyordu, sonra tuşa basıyordu. |