Why is "I don´t understand" translated as "anlamadım" and not "anlamıyorum"? I thought "anlamadım" would be the past tense?

Please explain, because this phrase is the first thing I should learn as a beginner.

"I don´t understand" ...Its translated anlamıyorum....

Useful Turkish Words say "anlamadım"

http://www.turkishclass.com/turkish_lesson_109

"I don´t understand" means "Anlamıyorum". But we generally prefer to say "I didn´t understand" Anlamadım.

Aha, so it sounds more natural for you to say: anlamadım. OK, then I understand and will use that form.

Hi Nixy,

You may use both forms "anlamadım" or "anlamıyorum" depending on the context.  If somebody said something to me which I didn´t understand,  I can say: "anlamadım", can you repeat? Since his sentence is finished, your understanding/or not understanding of it happened in the past. Hence, the past tense. As the other members said, we use "anlamadım" in most cases.

Anlamıyorum is used in situations that are considered to be never changing facts. For example: I never understand Math.

This guy always speaks so fast, I don´t understand him at all   etc.

There are more details and examples but I hope these might be helpful for the present.

erayay

"I´m a linguist and native Turkish speaker"

Thank you!