Breakdown of Eskiden köyde yaşadık.
yaşamak
to live / to experience / to undergo
köy
village
eskiden
in the old days, formerly
Questions & Answers about Eskiden köyde yaşadık.
Why does eski have the "from" ending (-den) in eskiden?
The word eski means "old". When we add the ablative (from) ending -den, it becomes a fixed expression meaning "in the past" or "in the old days". You can think of it as meaning "from the old times". It is a great example of how the ablative case can be used to talk about time!
We are learning about the ablative + beri (since) pattern. Why isn't beri used here?
The word eskiden is a fixed adverb meaning "formerly" or "in the past", so it works on its own. If you wanted to say "since the old days", you would say eskiden beri. However, beri implies an action started in the past and is still continuing. Because this sentence uses the completed past tense (yaşadık), the living situation is over. Therefore, eskiden on its own is the correct choice.
Why doesn't the Turkish sentence use bir (a) to say "in a village"?
Could I put biz (we) at the beginning of the sentence?
Yes, you could say Biz eskiden köyde yaşadık. However, because the verb yaşadık already ends with the "we" marker (-k), the pronoun biz is unnecessary unless you really want to emphasize that we lived there, as opposed to someone else.
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