Breakdown of Öğrenciler karanlıkta kitap okumuyordu, elektrik bekliyordu.
kitap
book
öğrenci
student
okumak
to read
beklemek
to wait
karanlık
dark
elektrik
electricity
Questions & Answers about Öğrenciler karanlıkta kitap okumuyordu, elektrik bekliyordu.
How do we build the negative past continuous verb okumuyordu from the root okumak?
We start with the verb root oku- (to read). When adding the continuous suffix -yor, the negative suffix -ma or -me always changes into a narrow vowel (mı, mi, mu, or mü). Because of vowel harmony with oku, the negative becomes -mu. Then we add -yor (continuous) and -du (past). So we get: oku + mu + yor + du (was not reading).
The subject öğrenciler is plural. Why don't the verbs have a plural ending like okumuyordular or bekliyordular?
In Turkish, if a plural subject referring to people is explicitly stated in the sentence (like öğrenciler with its -ler suffix), it is very common and perfectly correct to leave the verb in the singular form. You could say okumuyordular, but okumuyordu is much more natural and common in everyday speech.
I learned that the verb "to wait" is beklemek. Why does it change to bekliyordu instead of bekleyiyordu?
This is a great time to refresh your memory on vowel narrowing! When a verb root ends in a wide vowel like -a or -e (as in bekle-), adding the -yor suffix forces that final vowel to narrow into ı, i, u, or ü. Here, the e narrows to i, changing bekle-yor-du into the correct form: bekliyordu.
The English translation says they were not reading "books" (plural). Why is the singular word kitap used here?
In Turkish, when you are talking about a general type of activity, you usually use the singular, unmodified form of the object. The phrase kitap okumak represents the general action of "book reading." Even though there are multiple students who might have multiple books, Turkish just uses the singular kitap to describe the activity itself.
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