İlk bulmaca çok kolaydı.

In Turkish, was is often built into the predicate rather than used as a separate word.

Here, kolaydı breaks down as:

• kolay = easy
• -dı = past tense form of the copula, giving the sense of was

So kolaydı means was easy.

You may also see the longer form kolay idi, but in normal modern Turkish this is usually contracted to kolaydı.

This is due to 4-way vowel harmony.

The past/copular ending changes to match the last vowel of the word before it:

• -dı
• -di
• -du
• -dü

The last vowel in kolay is a, which is a back unrounded vowel, so the correct form is -dı.

That is why:

• kolay + dı = kolaydı

Yes. This ending can appear as either d or t, depending on the sound before it.

This is because of consonant assimilation:

• after a voiced sound, it usually stays d
• after a voiceless consonant, it often becomes t

Since kolay ends in y, which is voiced, the ending is -dı, not -tı.

For comparison:

• zor → zordu = it was difficult
• sert → sertti = it was hard/strict

İlk means first and is very commonly used for the first item in a sequence.

So ilk bulmaca means the first puzzle.

You can also use birinci, which is the regular ordinal form meaning first, but there is a difference in feel:

• ilk = first, initial, the one that comes first
• birinci = first in an ordered/counting sense

In many everyday contexts like this, ilk bulmaca sounds the most natural.

Turkish has no definite article equivalent to English the.

Whether something is understood as a puzzle or the puzzle depends on context.

So:

• bulmaca can mean a puzzle or the puzzle
• ilk bulmaca naturally gets understood as the first puzzle when the context is clear

This is very normal in Turkish.

Because çok works like very here, and in Turkish it comes before the adjective or adverb it modifies.

So:

• çok kolay = very easy
• çok zor = very difficult
• çok güzel = very beautiful

Then with the past ending:

• çok kolaydı = was very easy

So the order is completely normal.

Turkish usually puts the main predicate at the end of the sentence.

In this sentence:

• İlk bulmaca = the first puzzle
• çok kolaydı = was very easy

So the sentence structure is basically:

• [subject/topic] + [predicate]

This end-position for the predicate is one of the most common patterns in Turkish.

Yes, bulmaca is part of the subject phrase ilk bulmaca.

It does not need a special ending here because it is in the basic form of the noun, often called the nominative form.

So:

• bulmaca = puzzle
• ilk bulmaca = the first puzzle

No case ending is needed because it is not functioning as an object or showing possession here.

A few pronunciation points matter here:

• İ in İlk is like the i in machine, but shorter
• ç in çok is like ch in chair
• ı in -dı is the Turkish dotless ı, which does not exist in English

That ı is pronounced with the tongue fairly central/back in the mouth, somewhat like a relaxed vowel with no exact English match.

A rough pronunciation guide:

• İlk ≈ ilk
• bulmaca ≈ bool-ma-ja
• çok ≈ chok
• kolaydı ≈ ko-lie-duh, but with the last vowel as Turkish ı, not a normal English uh

Also, ğ does not appear here, so every written consonant is pronounced fairly clearly.

Yes. Grammatically, çok kolay idi is possible.

But in modern Turkish, the shorter fused form is much more common:

• kolay idi
• kolaydı

Both mean the same thing, but kolaydı is the normal everyday form.

So learners should usually prefer:

• İlk bulmaca çok kolaydı.

Sometimes, yes, but the original order is the most neutral and natural.

The standard version is:

• İlk bulmaca çok kolaydı.

If you change the order, you may shift emphasis. For example:

• Çok kolaydı ilk bulmaca.
  This is possible, but it sounds more marked, as if emphasizing very easy

For most learners, it is best to keep the basic order unless you have a reason to highlight something.

Turkish often does not use a dummy subject like English it.

English says:

• It was very easy

But Turkish can simply say:

• Çok kolaydı = was very easy

When the noun is already present, as in İlk bulmaca, there is no need for any extra pronoun.

So Turkish is more economical here than English.