Soru zordu zor olmasına ama bilgi küpü bildi.

zordu = zor + -du.

• zor = difficult / hard
• -du is the past form of the Turkish copula, so here it means was

So Soru zordu means The question was difficult.

This repetition adds emphasis and creates a concessive meaning.

So the sentence is not just saying the question was difficult. It is more like:

• The question was difficult, true, but...
• It was hard, admittedly, but...
• Hard it was, but...

This kind of repetition is fairly natural in Turkish when the speaker wants to acknowledge one point before introducing a contrast.

Here olmasına comes from olmak (to be / to become).

In this sentence, zor olmasına is part of a pattern that means something like:

• although it was difficult
• granted that it was difficult
• difficult though it was

You do not need to translate olmasına word-for-word every time. It is better to learn the whole pattern:

• X olmasına ama...
• X olmasına rağmen...

These are used to admit a fact and then contrast it with something else.

It is understandable and works as an emphatic, contrastive structure. Nothing is strictly missing.

However, learners often first meet the fuller form:

• zor olmasına rağmen = although it was difficult / despite being difficult

In this sentence, ama is doing the contrasting job, so zor olmasına ama feels like:

• it was difficult, true, but...

It is a bit more rhetorical or conversational than the more textbook-like zor olmasına rağmen.

ama means but.

It introduces the contrast between the two ideas:

• The question was difficult
• but the know-it-all knew it

Even though zor olmasına already hints at concession, ama makes the contrast explicit and stronger.

Literally, bilgi küpü means cube of knowledge, but idiomatically it means:

• a very knowledgeable person
• a walking encyclopedia
• sometimes a know-it-all

The exact tone depends on context. It can sound admiring, playful, or slightly teasing.

Because bilgi küpü is a Turkish noun compound.

In many Turkish noun compounds, the second noun takes the compound ending -(s)I:

• kahve fincanı = coffee cup
• okul müdürü = school principal
• bilgi küpü = knowledge cube → very knowledgeable person

So the -ü on küpü is not random; it is part of the compound structure.

Turkish often leaves out objects when they are clear from context.

Here, after talking about a difficult question, bildi naturally means something like:

• knew it
• knew the answer
• got it right

So bilgi küpü bildi is understood as the know-it-all knew (the answer), even though Turkish does not say the object explicitly.

bildi is the simple past of bilmek (to know).

In this sentence, it means knew or knew the answer.

Depending on context, Turkish simple past can sometimes sound event-like, so in quiz or test situations bildi can also feel like:

• he/she got it
• he/she knew it correctly

But here the basic meaning is still from bilmek = to know.

Yes, it is understandable, but it sounds a bit emphatic or rhetorical because of the repetition and structure.

More neutral versions would be:

• Soru zordu ama bilgi küpü bildi.
• Soru zor olmasına rağmen bilgi küpü bildi.
• Soru zordu ama bilgi küpü cevabı bildi.

The original sentence has more of a Yes, it was hard, but still... flavor.

Turkish does not have articles like English a and the.

So soru can mean:

• the question
• a question

depending on context.

If the question is already known from the situation, English usually translates it as the question. If it were introducing a new, indefinite question, Turkish might say bir soru.