This may be a stupid question but I am stuck on something in grammar that I learned before but forgot... It´s a bit difficult to explain but I will try my best... to explain with examples.

´They were coming´ = geliyor-lar-dı ... in this case the ´dı´ is imek-form, and these come after ´ler/lar´...

But my question is the next example... ´They have come´. Is it gel-ler-di (and is the ´di´ again too ´weak´ to break up ´lar´?) Or is it gel-di-ler (and is the ´di´ this time ´stronger´ because it´s not an imek-form this time?

I really need this answer so I hope someone can answer soon... Sorry if it´s a stupid question.

its not stupid. in "geli yor lar dı", there are two tenses. yor and dı. bileşik zaman. in "gel di ler" there is only one tense. dı.

ler comes after the first tense because the second tense, the "ek fiil", comes to the end of the word. gelmişlerdi, gelirlerdi, etc these are actually all gelmişler idi, gelirler idi etc. so the second tense comes to the end of the word, after everything.

So ler always comes after the first tense? So the correct answer to my second example is ´geldiler´?

ler/lar is a personal ending here (for third person plural) So it must be always at the end. 

geliyordular

Also look at here: http://www.verbix.com/webverbix/go.php?D1=31&T1=gelmek

Yes correct is geldiler

Oh I guess my professor is wrong because I have in my notes right in front of me ´geliyorlardı´. That ler/lar exceptionally comes before ´dı´ here because it´s an imek-form, a ´help-tense´ :-/

But thank you!!

Thank you to you too Burakk  çok teşekkürler!

Yes it is past of i-mek form. But there is no such a rule ler must come before it. At least I havent heart such a rule. Also you can look at the link I gave you for verb conjugations. It is like I said there too.

Tamam

actually both works

Past Progressive, narrative

ben   geliyordum
sen   geliyordun
o     geliyordu
biz   geliyorduk
siz   geliyordunuz
onlar geliyordular; geliyorlardı

Örnek: Bir güzelin hayranı i-di-m>hayranıydım, hayranı idik>hayranıydık
Zeki idi>zekiydi
Ali imiş>Ali’ymiş,
Hasta ise>hastaysa,
Nöbetçi iken>nöbetçiyken,
Merhametli imişler>merhametliymişler
Merhametliler imiş>merhametlilermiş

Yeah it looks like both of them work but why only for third person plural? Only a misuse of suffix can explain it. This misuse became common in time I guess.

Ohhhh Allaha şükkür, my faith in my professor is restored! Thaaank you

Come on it is still a mistake

I think the reason is that in most Turkic accents in the past, personal suffixes came before ekfiil. But in Ottoman it always came after. So I think its a matter of accent.

But according to todays rules it should come final. So the professor and me are indeed wrong

Well I am doing it his way on my exam

Well my professor is seen as a big genius, so you can always contact him on youtube and let him know he is wrong I am not saying it.

I would certainly fail you

Well my professor is seen as a big genius, so you can always contact him on youtube and let him know he is wrong I am not saying it.

There is a saying in Turkish " who knows a lot is also mistaken a lot"

Whats his youtube?

Thank God you are not my teacher  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv22K9yraTI this is him.. I just saw it´s not really HIS youtube so you can´t actually contact him hh sorry I am sure you can find him on Google if you would want to He has Wikipedia too, you will see, he really IS a smart man.

onlar geliyordular,
onlar geliyorlardı.

Although "geliyordular" is correct, "geliyorlardı" is more natural. Prefer "geliyorlardı"

teşekkür ederim

It must have something to do with the double life of LAR as a plural marker and as a personal ending.

LAR looks confusingly innocent but learners be warned it is not.

It´s not at all easy, indeed. Teşekkür ederim, Abla!

Actually it is only for plural. In personal endings, it makes "o" (he/she/it) plural as "onlar"

for "o" singular there is no personal ending in "geliyor" (he is coming), when we make plural we add "-lar" to non-exist third singular pronoun. and the result "geliyorlar" (they are coming)

I think abla meant personal (what you are saying personal plural, onlar) and plural (kitaplar)..

anyway, lets dont go into too deep otherwise we may drown!

Haha yes better, specially for me, I am just a 1st year student  

Ama herkese gerçekten tüm kalbimle teşekkür ediyorum .. My exam went well! And there was a question about it so thank you!!