Breakdown of Her gün bahçede saklambaç oynardık.
bahçe
garden
oynamak
to play
her
every
gün
day
saklambaç
hide-and-seek
Questions & Answers about Her gün bahçede saklambaç oynardık.
How does oynardık give the meaning of "we used to play"?
It uses the aorist past tense, which is often called the habitual past. You take the verb root oyna- (to play), add the aorist suffix -r, the past tense suffix -dı, and the personal "we" ending -k. Together, -rdı- expresses an action that was a regular habit in the past, similar to "used to" or "would" in English.
Why is the aorist suffix just -r here, rather than -ar or -ır?
Because the verb root oyna- ends in a vowel. When a verb root ends in a vowel, the aorist suffix is always just -r. You only need to worry about choosing between the vowel forms (like -ar/-er or -ır/-ir) when the root ends in a consonant.
Why is there no case ending on saklambaç?
When talking about playing a game or a sport, Turkish uses the plain dictionary form of the noun right before the verb. So, "to play hide-and-seek" is simply saklambaç oynamak, with no accusative or dative endings required on the game itself.
Could I say oynuyorduk instead of oynardık in this sentence?
Yes, you could. In Turkish, both the past continuous (-yordu) and the aorist past (-rdı) can be used to describe past habits. However, oynardık feels a bit more nostalgic and strictly translates to "we would play" or "we used to play," whereas oynuyorduk can mean "we used to play" but also "we were playing" at a specific moment in the past.
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