-mAktaydı: A Formal Way to Say "Was Doing"

1. Function

-mAktaydı describes something that was going on at a certain point in the past. It means roughly the same thing as -Iyordu, "was doing."

Örnek: Nüfus hızla artmaktaydı.
— The population was increasing rapidly.

The two forms can describe the same kind of situation, an action in progress in the past. 

One important difference is register: -Iyordu is the everyday, neutral choice. -mAktaydı belongs to more formal, written, or prepared speech.

2. Forms

Positive:
Verb stem + -mAktA/-mEktE + idi → -mAktaydı/-mEkteydi

yapmaktaydı (was doing)
gelmekteydi (was coming)

Negative:
Verb stem + negative -mA/-mE + -mAktA/-mEktE + idi → -mAmAktAydı/-mEmEktEydi

Örnek: Sistem o sırada düzgün çalışmamaktaydı.
— The system was not working properly at the time.

Unfused alternative:
You'll sometimes also see the unfused version, -mAktA idi, written as two separate words. It means exactly the same thing as the fused form. Both are correct; the fused form is simply more common in ordinary writing.

3. Morphology

-mAktaydı is built from three pieces.

Step 1: Verb stem + -mAk (the infinitive, "to do") + -DA (the locative ending, "at/in")

yap + mak + ta → yapmakta
gel + mek + te → gelmekte

A useful way to think of -mAktA / -mEktE is something like "in the process of doing," though this is just a helpful mental picture rather than a literal translation.

Step 2: Add the past form of "to be," idi, "was."

-mAktA + idi → -mAktaydı
-mEktE + idi → -mEkteydi

Because -mAktA ends in a vowel and idi begins with one, Turkish adds a buffer consonant, y, and the two words fuse together: mAktA-y-dı.

Step 3: Vowel harmony decides whether you get -maktaydı or -mekteydi, depending on the vowels in the verb stem.

Negative morphology:
Structure: Verb stem + negative -mA/-mE + -mAktA/-mEktE + -ydI + personal ending
çalış-ma-mak-ta-y-dı-m → I was not working

Related form: In formal Turkish, you will also often see -mAktAdIr for ongoing situations in the present: yapılmaktadır ("is being done"), compared with yapılmaktaydı ("was being done").

4. Structural Guide

Both -Iyordu and -mAktaydı can describe an action that was ongoing in the past. In many contexts, they refer to the same past situation, while register and style affect which form sounds more natural.

Örnek:

O sırada yağmur yağıyordu.
O sırada yağmur yağmaktaydı.
— It was raining at the time.

Both sentences say the same basic thing. The difference here is tone and context.

-Iyordu is the natural, everyday choice. You'd use it in conversation, casual writing, and most storytelling.

-mAktaydı sounds more formal. It's common in news reports, history books, biographies, and other writing where the speaker is presenting the situation in a more formal or report-like way, rather than telling a story as it's being lived. This is a tendency of the register, not a fixed grammar rule.

Örnek (history writing):
Osmanlı ordusu o dönemde büyük bir yeniden yapılanma sürecinden geçmekteydi.
— At that time, the Ottoman army was undergoing a major restructuring process.

Here, -mAktaydı fits naturally because the sentence is presenting a historical situation the way a textbook or documentary would.

5. Usage

Formal and analytical writing:

Örnek: İç talep görece istikrarlı seyrederken, dış finansman koşulları belirgin biçimde sıkılaşmaktaydı.
— While domestic demand remained relatively stable, external financing conditions were tightening noticeably.

Historical and biographical narration:

Örnek: Genç yaşta İstanbul'a taşınan yazar, o dönemde ilk romanı üzerinde çalışmaktaydı.
— Having moved to Istanbul at a young age, the writer was working on his first novel during that period.

Nature writing and narration:

Örnek: Kartallar bölgede avlanmakta, genç kuşlar ise uçmayı öğrenmekteydi.
— Eagles were hunting in the area, while the young birds were learning to fly.

Passive constructions in reports:

Because -mAktaydı is common in formal and institutional writing, it often appears together with the passive voice, since reports frequently describe processes without naming who is carrying them out.

Örnekler:
Dosya inceleniyordu. / Dosya incelenmekteydi.
— The file was being reviewed.

Yeni düzenleme uygulanmaktaydı.
— The new regulation was being implemented.

Konu meclis gündeminde görüşülmekteydi.
— The matter was being discussed on the parliamentary agenda.