O gün ne sinirli ne de üzgündü; oldukça sakindi.

That day he was neither angry nor sad; he was quite calm.

Breakdown of O gün ne sinirli ne de üzgündü; oldukça sakindi.

• olmak: to be
• gün: the day
• sakin: calm
• o: that

Questions & Answers about O gün ne sinirli ne de üzgündü; oldukça sakindi.

What does the pattern ne ... ne de ... mean and how is it used?

It corresponds to English neither ... nor ... and denies both items. Basic pattern: ne + X + ne (de) + Y, followed by a predicate in the positive form. Example with adjectives: O gün ne sinirli ne de üzgündü. With verbs: Ne ağladı ne güldü (neither cried nor laughed).

Why is there de after the second ne? Can I omit it?

The conventional form is ne ... ne de .... The de is optional: ne ... ne ... is also correct. Including de is very common and slightly smoother/formal. It appears as de (not da) here because of vowel harmony with ne (front vowel e).

Where does the meaning “was” come from in üzgündü/sakindi if there’s no separate verb?

Turkish uses a copular past suffix derived from idi attached to adjectives/nouns:

• üzgün + idi → üzgündü (was sad)
• sakin + idi → sakindi (was calm) This is how Turkish says “was X” without a separate verb.

Why is it -dü in üzgündü but -di in sakindi?