B1 · The past · about 7 minutes
Used to: the aorist in the past
I used to come, I would come
Aorist plus “-di”: for old habits and for a polite “would”.
Do you know this already?
“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need3
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- sebzevegetables
- ceppocket
- kabul etmekto accept
Understand
RememberAorist plus -di: giderdim — “I used to go” or “I would go”.
- When
- Before the past
- The past
- Past linked to the present
- The present
- The future
- Completed in the future
The past — Something that happened, finished, and stays where it happened.
- Signal words
- eskiden
- çocukken
- her yaz
- o zamanlar
The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Turkish. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) tense marker person ending negation question marker
| I used to come | (ben) gelirdim |
| you used to come | (sen) gelirdin |
| he, she used to come | (o) gelirdi |
| we used to come | (biz) gelirdik |
| you used to come (plural, polite) | (siz) gelirdiniz |
| they used to come | (onlar) gelirlerdi |
| I never used to come | (ben) gelmezdim |
| did you use to come? | (sen) gelir miydin? |
| I used to do | (ben) yapardım |
| we used to read | (biz) okurduk |
| I used to buy | (ben) alırdım |
| we never used to do | (biz) yapmazdık |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
Old habits go with the aorist plus -di.
Eskiden her gün yürürdüm.I used to go for a walk every day.
The aorist vowel stays as it is — including the one-syllable exceptions.
Babam her sabah gazete alırdı.My father used to buy a paper every morning.
The negative uses the negative aorist: -mezdi, -mazdı.
Çocukken sebze yemezdim.As a child I didn’t eat vegetables.
The same form means “would”, often as a polite wish.
Şimdi bir çay içerdim.I would love a tea now.
After an imagined condition the form goes in the main clause.
Vaktim olsa, sana yardım ederdim.If I had time, I would help you.
Example sentences
Çocukken her yaz denize giderdik.As children we went to the seaside every summer.
Dedem bize masal anlatırdı.My grandfather used to tell us fairy tales.
O zamanlar kimse cep telefonu kullanmazdı.Back then nobody used a mobile phone.
5 more example sentences
Eskiden burada çok güzel bir kafe olurdu.There used to be a really nice café here.
Ben olsam, o işi kabul etmezdim.If I were you, I wouldn’t take that job.
Annem cumartesi günleri börek yapardı.My mother used to make börek on Saturdays.
Sen eskiden çok kitap okurdun.You used to read a lot.
Öğrenciyken hafta sonları çalışırdım.As a student I worked at weekends.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
If you have learnt the aorist as the form for habits, you will use it for your childhood too: Eskiden her gün yüzerim. Without -di, though, that is the present — “I swim every day” — and does not fit with eskiden “in the past”. Old habits need -di after the aorist, just as English needs “used to”.
Quick check
A warm-up: 2 questions, answered straight away. They do not count towards your progress.
Practise
9 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
Now write it yourself9 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
Well done
How well do you know this topic?
This is filled in automatically after you practise. You can change it here at any time.
Next on the path: 88 · If only …: wishes with “keşke”Back to the learning path
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
“As a child I used to go to the seaside every summer.” For what regularly happened in the past Turkish has a form of its own: Çocukken her yaz denize giderdim. It is the aorist (gider) put into the past with -di — very like English “used to” or “would” in “we would go every summer”.
You know both parts. First the aorist with its vowel — gelir, yapar, okur, and with the one-syllable exceptions alır, olur, bilir — then -di and the short person ending: gelirdim, yapardın, okurdu, alırdık, bilirdiniz. In the third person plural -ler comes first: gelirlerdi.
Negative with the negative aorist: gelmezdim, yapmazdık. Question: Gelir miydin?
The same form also means “would”: Bir çay içerdim. “I would love a tea.” And after a condition it goes in the main clause: Param olsa, bir ev alırdım. “If I had money, I would buy a house.”
A closer look
Alongside “-iyordu”
For old habits you also hear -iyordu: Eskiden her gün yürüyordum. Both are correct. The aorist sounds more like “that is how it was back then”, -iyordu more like a phase that went on for a while.
For “would” only the aorist works: Bir çay içerdim.
Eskiden her gün yürürdüm, şimdi hiç yürümüyorum.I used to walk every day; now I don’t walk at all.
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
Compared with English
English uses “used to” or “would” for past habits. In Turkish it is already in the form; an eskiden “in the past” or çocukken “as a child” just sets the scene.
Çocukken çok top oynardım.As a child I played a lot of football.
Worth knowing
One ending for “used to” and “would”
English “would” does both jobs too: “We would go to the seaside every summer” and “I would come, but …”. In Turkish it is also one ending: giderdim means “I used to go” and “I would go”. The context decides.
Seninle gelirdim ama işim var.I would come with you, but I have work to do.
The verbs on this page, in every form: yürümek