Dün gece tuhaf bir ses duydum.

A natural breakdown is:

• dün = yesterday
• gece = night
• dün gece = last night
• tuhaf = strange, weird
• bir = a / an
• ses = sound, noise, voice
• duydum = I heard

So the structure is basically:

• time expression
  • object
    • verb

This is very normal in Turkish.

That is just how Turkish commonly expresses this idea.

• dün = yesterday
• dün gece = last night

English prefers last night, but Turkish naturally says yesterday night in form. This is one of those places where you should translate by meaning, not word-for-word.

Because dün gece is a bare time expression, and Turkish often uses time expressions without a case ending.

Examples:

• bugün = today
• yarın = tomorrow
• dün gece = last night
• sabah = in the morning / morning
• geçen hafta = last week

You only add a case ending if the sentence needs it for another reason. Here, dün gece simply tells when the action happened, so no extra ending is needed.

Because Turkish is usually SOV: subject - object - verb.

In this sentence:

• (Ben) = I, understood
• tuhaf bir ses = a strange sound
• duydum = heard

Turkish normally puts the verb at or near the end. Time expressions like dün gece often come earlier in the sentence.

So this order is very typical:

• Dün gece
  • tuhaf bir ses
    • duydum

In standard Turkish, when you have an adjective with an indefinite noun, the usual pattern is:

• adjective + bir + noun

So:

• güzel bir ev = a beautiful house
• uzun bir yol = a long road
• tuhaf bir ses = a strange sound

This is the normal pattern learners should use.

Bir tuhaf ses is not the neutral everyday form here. It can sound marked, literary, or contrastive in some contexts, but tuhaf bir ses is the standard choice.

Here bir works like the English indefinite article a / an.

So:

• tuhaf bir ses = a strange sound

Turkish bir can also literally mean one, but in this sentence it is functioning as an indefinite article-like word.

Compare:

• bir ses duydum = I heard a sound
• bir kitap aldım = I bought a book

Whether it means one or just a depends on context.

Great question. In Turkish, a direct object is often:

• unmarked if it is indefinite / non-specific
• marked with the accusative if it is definite / specific

Here:

• tuhaf bir ses duydum = I heard a strange sound
  → non-specific, so ses stays bare

But:

• tuhaf bir sesi duydum = I heard the / that strange sound
  → a specific sound, so the accusative appears: sesi

This is a very important Turkish pattern.

Duydum comes from the verb duymak = to hear.

It breaks down like this:

• duy- = hear
• -du- = past tense
• -m = I

So:

• duydum = I heard

The exact form of the past tense changes because of vowel harmony and consonant rules, so the past suffix can appear as forms like:

• -dı
• -di
• -du
• -dü
• -tı
• -ti
• -tu
• -tü

Here, duy- becomes duydu-, then duydum.

Because Turkish verb endings usually show the subject clearly.

In duydum, the final -m tells you the subject is I.

So Ben tuhaf bir ses duydum is possible, but ben is usually omitted unless you want emphasis or contrast.

For example:

• Duydum. = I heard.
• Ben duydum. = I heard it. / I was the one who heard it.

This omission of subject pronouns is very common in Turkish.

Yes, Turkish word order is flexible, but the choice changes the focus or emphasis.

The neutral, natural version is:

• Dün gece tuhaf bir ses duydum.

You may also hear:

• Tuhaf bir ses duydum dün gece.

This still means the same thing, but the focus can shift slightly. The original sentence sounds like a very normal, unmarked way to say it.

So as a learner, the given version is an excellent default model.

Because duymak means to hear, while dinlemek means to listen.

• duymak = hearing something, often without trying
• dinlemek = listening on purpose

A strange sound is usually something you unexpectedly hear, so duymak is the natural verb.

Compare:

• Dün gece tuhaf bir ses duydum. = I heard a strange sound last night.
• Müzik dinledim. = I listened to music.

The Turkish ü is like the u in French tu or the German ü.

A quick way to practice it:

1. Say ee
2. Keep your tongue in that position
3. Round your lips

That gives you something close to ü.

So:

• dün sounds roughly like dyn
• duydum has normal u sounds, not ü

This contrast is important in Turkish, because u and ü are different vowels.