I am having trouble with DURMAK.

The book I am reading says "Yağmur durmadan yağıyordu." 

It had been raining a lot, the book says, "Tufanda gibiydik."

Does the use of durmak here mean the rain continued or it stopped?

As another example:

   Oğlan yürüyordu.       A boy was walking.

   Oğlan köpeği gördü. The boy saw the dog.

   Durdu.  - - Did he stop, stop and continue, or just keep on walking? 

Normally I would just go with the context of the story, but durmak,

being either to stop or to continue, is a very important common word.

Thank you for any insight you can give.

Cim

Durmak is to stop....no reason to mix it up with continue

durmadan yagiyordu .......It was raining without stopping

... but durma can also be "in a continuing condition"

NO, "durmama" is being in a continuing condition..

I was told on this site if I wanted to say to my dog, " don`t keep sniffing" koklayıp durma, so Alpha have I been saying it wrong ,should it be , koklayıp durmama.

Oh just thought about it koklayıp durma= stop sniffing, koklayıp durmama = dont keep sniffing ,doğru mu?

I admit it is a little confusing...

1. "koklayip durma" means the state of being in a perpetual state of sniffing,

2. "koklayip durmak" however is a verb, meaning "sniffing continiusly". "Koklayip durma" is then also the negative command of this verb, meaning "do not remain sniffing" or "stop sniffing".

4. "koklayip dur", in this context,  will mean "keep sniffing" 

I hope this helps. You are correct in telling your dog "koklayip durma" (do not remain in state of sniffing or stop sniffing)

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