Ahşap kaplama sanki nemden şişmiş gibi görünüyor.

Ahşap means wooden / wood, and kaplama comes from kaplamak (to cover, coat, veneer).

Together, ahşap kaplama refers to something like:

• wood veneer
• wooden covering
• wood finish / cladding

The exact English translation depends on context. In this sentence, it most likely means the wooden veneer/surface layer.

Because Turkish often uses a simple noun + noun or adjective-like structure for material/type descriptions.

Here, ahşap functions like a descriptive word meaning wooden / made of wood / wood-type, so ahşap kaplama is a very natural compact phrase.

Compare:

• ahşap masa = wooden table
• metal kapı = metal door
• taş duvar = stone wall

If you said ahşabın kaplaması, that would mean something more like the covering of the wood, which is a different relationship.

Sanki means as if, as though, or sometimes it seems like.

So:

• sanki nemden şişmiş gibi = as if it has swollen from moisture

It introduces an impression, not a confirmed fact. The speaker is saying that this is how it looks, not necessarily that they know for sure.

Yes, they overlap in meaning, and Turkish very often uses them together in this kind of sentence.

Structure:

• sanki ... gibi = as if ...

So:

• sanki nemden şişmiş gibi görünüyor
  = it looks as if it has swollen from moisture

You can think of sanki as setting up the comparison/impression, and gibi completing it.

In everyday Turkish, using both is very common and natural.

Nem means moisture or dampness.

The ending -den is the ablative suffix, which often means:

• from
• because of
• due to

So:

• nemden = from moisture, because of moisture, due to dampness

In this sentence, it tells the cause of the swelling:

• nemden şişmiş = swollen from moisture

Because Turkish commonly uses the ablative case after some verbs and in some cause/result expressions.

With şişmek (to swell), Turkish can express the cause with -den:

• sıcaktan şişmek = to swell from heat
• nemden şişmek = to swell from moisture

So -den here marks the source or cause of the condition.

Şişmiş comes from the verb şişmek (to swell).

The ending -miş here forms a past participle or a result-state form:

• şişmek = to swell
• şişmiş = swollen / having swollen

So nemden şişmiş gibi literally means something like:

• as if swollen from moisture

This is not the main verb of the sentence. It is part of the as if clause describing appearance.

Because şişmiş gibi focuses on the resulting state: it looks swollen.

Compare:

• şişmiş gibi = as if it has swollen / as if it is swollen
• şişiyor gibi = as if it is swelling

In your sentence, the speaker is describing how the surface looks now — it appears to already be in a swollen state. That is why şişmiş gibi is the natural choice.

Görünüyor comes from görünmek, which means:

• to appear
• to look
• to seem

So:

• görünüyor = it appears / it looks / it seems

In this sentence:

• Ahşap kaplama sanki nemden şişmiş gibi görünüyor.
• The wood veneer looks as if it has swollen from moisture.

Turkish often uses the -yor form for what English would express as a general present in verbs like look, seem, or appear.

So:

• görünüyor literally looks like is appearing
• but in natural English it is usually just looks / seems / appears

This is very normal Turkish usage.

The structure is:

• Ahşap kaplama = subject
• sanki nemden şişmiş gibi = comparison/appearance phrase (as if swollen from moisture)
• görünüyor = main verb (looks/seems)

So the sentence is built like this:

[Subject] + [as if-clause] + [seems/looks]

That is a very common Turkish pattern.

Yes. You could say:

• Ahşap kaplama nemden şişmiş gibi görünüyor.

This still means:

• The wooden surface looks as if it has swollen from moisture.

Adding sanki makes the as if feeling a bit more explicit or vivid, but the version without it is also natural.

It is giving an impression, not a confirmed fact.

That is because of:

• sanki
• gibi
• görünüyor

All of these signal appearance rather than certainty.

So the speaker is not saying:

• It definitely swelled from moisture

They are saying:

• It looks as if it swelled from moisture

Usually it refers to swelling, puffing up, or expanding, often physically.

In this context, with wood or veneer, it can suggest things like:

• swelling
• puffing up
• bulging
• warping from dampness

So while the literal core meaning is to swell, the natural English translation in context may vary depending on what the material looks like.