Learn Turkish: Eskiden köyde yaşadık. - In the old days, we lived in a village.

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"?

In English, we have to say "in a village", but Turkish often drops bir when talking about a general category or environment rather than one specific, countable place. Köyde yaşadık feels a bit like saying "we lived village-style" or "we were village-dwellers".

Could I put biz (we) at the beginning of the sentence?