-(I)YOR is the marking of the continuous aspect in Turkish.
gidiyorum represents present tense only because there is no marking of past tense around (cf. gidiyordum). Present tense has no marking in Turkish (as in most languages I guess). What is often referred to as present tense markings are actually aspect markings.
There is no one-to-one correspondence between grammatical structures of different languages. Even though the English BE + -ING often equals to the Turkish -(I)YOR you cannot trust it always. For instance I have noticed that verbs of feelings, sensory perception and cognitive actions take the continuous aspect marking more often in Turkish than in English.
Thanks everyone. Looks like a had this wrong (more-or-less). I always thought Şimdiki zaman was the present tense in English. First because it seems to be the first tense that is taught and second because it often used as the English present tense (I know - Bilyorum).
Also, many sites refer to Şimdiki zaman as "Present Tense", here is one: http://merhabaturkish.com/grammar/simple-present-tense/ although in another page (http://merhabaturkish.com/turkish-in-use/tenses-in-turkish/) it refers to it as "Simple Present – Present Continuous Tense".
I started getting confused on the issue when I learned of the wide tense, Geniş zaman.
So I agree, as Abla says, there is no one-to-one correspondence here.
When I learned Spanish, I noticed the main tense between Spanish and English lined up well. But then again I suppose that is different since both originate from Latin.
Is Geniş zaman used a lot? Or would people say "her zaman bilyorum"?
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