yiyorlar

Yiyorlar is a Turkish verb form meaning “they are eating” or, in some contexts, “they eat.” It is the third-person plural present continuous (progressive) form of the verb yemek, which means “to eat.” The form combines the present continuous marker -yor with the plural subject ending -lar, signaling that the action is being performed by more than one subject.

In use, yiyorlar describes an action occurring in the present moment or a closely impending moment. Turkish expresses aspect through suffixes rather than separate helping verbs, so yiyorlar directly conveys ongoing action without requiring an auxiliary verb. The same verb can be expressed in a habitual or general sense with a different form, such as yerler, which marks present simple “they eat” rather than “they are eating.”

Examples help illustrate the distinction. Onlar dışarıda yemek yiyorlar. (They are eating a meal outside.) Onlar bugün balık yiyorlar. (They are eating fish today.) For a habitual sense, one might say Onlar her gün balık yerler. (They eat fish every day.) The choice between yiyorlar and yerler depends on whether the speaker means an ongoing action or a regular habit.

Etymology and related forms: the base verb is yemek (to eat). The progressive form yiyorlar is formed with the stem and suffixes that indicate tense, aspect, and agreement, a common pattern in Turkish for constructing verb phrases without auxiliary verbs.