Learn Turkish: Karanlıktı, kibrit yanmıyordu ve hiçbir yeri aydınlatmıyordu. - It was dark, the match was not burning and it was not illuminating anywhere.

Both words perfectly follow the pattern for "was not doing". We start with the verb root (yan- for burn, aydınlat- for illuminate), add the negative suffix (-mı), then the continuous suffix (-yor), and finally the past tense suffix for "it" (-du).

Why does karanlıktı (it was dark) end in -tı instead of the usual past tense -dı?

This happens because of consonant mutation (often remembered by the rule "Fıstıkçı Şahap"). The word karanlık ends with k, a voiceless consonant. When you attach a suffix starting with d to a voiceless consonant, it hardens to a t to make pronunciation easier. So -dı becomes -tı.

Hiçbir usually means "no" or "none", so why does the English translation say "anywhere"?

English avoids double negatives ("it was not illuminating anywhere"), but Turkish requires them! When you use a negative word like hiçbir (no/none) or hiçkimse (nobody), the verb at the end of the sentence must also be negative. So hiçbir yeri aydınlatmıyordu literally translates to "it was not illuminating nowhere".

Why is there an -i at the end of ?