Learn Hardcore Turkish: Küçük kız şaşkın görünse de hızla sakinleşti. - Even though the little girl looked surprised, she calmed down quickly.

The combination -sA + de/da forms a concessive clause meaning even though/although. So görünse de = “even though (she) seems/appears.” It’s built on the conditional marker -sa/-se, followed by the enclitic de/da.

Why does görünse have no personal ending? Shouldn’t it show who the subject is?

In the conditional, the 3rd person singular ending is zero (nothing is added). So:

görünsem = if I seem
görünsen = if you seem
görünse = if he/she/it seems Because the subject is already küçük kız, the 3rd person is clear.

Is görünse de the same as görünmesine rağmen?

They’re very close in meaning (“although/even though”).

görünse de: shorter, very common in everyday speech, slightly more informal.
görünmesine rağmen: more formal/literary; it’s a nominalized structure: görünme- (verbal noun) + -si (3sg possessive) + rağmen (“despite/although”).

Can I say görünse bile? What does bile add?

Yes: görünse bile means “even if/even though (she) seems.” bile adds emphasis to the “even,” making the concession stronger. Nuance: -se bile often leans toward “even if (hypothetical),” while -se de is neutral between “although” and “even if.”

Why use şaşkın and not şaşırmış?

şaşkın is an adjective meaning “astonished/confused/surprised” as a state.
şaşırmış is a participle from şaşırmak (“to be surprised”), often implying a resultant state or speaker inference (“apparently surprised”). You could say şaşırmış görünse de, but şaşkın görünmek is the most natural collocation for “to look/appear surprised.”

How is sakinleşti formed? Why not sakin oldu?

sakinleş-ti = sakin (calm) + -leş (“become, turn into”) + past -ti → “became calm.”
sakin oldu literally “became calm (was/turned calm).” Both are valid, but -leş/-laş is the productive “become X” verb-forming suffix and often sounds smoother: sakinleşti is the idiomatic choice.

What does hızla mean? How is it different from hızlıca or çabuk/çabucak?

hızla: “rapidly/at speed.” Formed from hız (speed) + -la (with/by). Neutral and common.
hızlıca: “quickly,” slightly more colloquial; similar meaning.
çabuk/çabucak: “quickly/pretty quickly,” more about promptness than raw speed; çabucak is “quite quickly/in no time.”

Where can I place the adverb hızla?

Adverbs are flexible:

Hızla sakinleşti.
Küçük kız hızla sakinleşti.
Küçük kız şaşkın görünse de hızla sakinleşti. Moving hızla earlier or later changes emphasis but not the core meaning.

Does the subject of the first clause carry over to the second clause?

Yes. Küçük kız is the subject for both clauses. Turkish allows you to state the subject once and omit it later if it stays the same, because the verb morphology (3rd singular here) and context make it clear.

Why is the past -ti used in sakinleşti instead of the reported past -miş?

-di/-dı/-du/-dü (here -ti) is the simple past: the speaker presents it as a known/observed fact.
-miş suggests inference/hearsay or a surprise discovery. Using sakinleşti states it plainly; sakinleşmiş would imply “(apparently) she calmed down.”

Should there be a comma before …se de?

It’s optional. Many writers don’t use a comma before -se de; others add one for readability: Küçük kız şaşkın görünse de, hızla sakinleşti. Both are acceptable, with style-guides varying.

Is the de in görünse de the same de that means “too/also”? And is it a suffix?

It’s the same enclitic de/da (written separately) but here it forms a concessive with -sA (“even though”). It’s not a suffix in this use; it’s written as a separate word. Don’t confuse it with the locative suffix -de/-da (attached to nouns, e.g., evde “at home”).

Why is it de and not da after görünse?

Vowel harmony. The enclitic uses de after front vowels (e, i, ö, ü) and da after back vowels (a, ı, o, u). Since görünse ends with a front vowel, it’s de.

Could I rephrase the sentence with ama?

Yes. For example: Küçük kız şaşkın görünüyordu ama hızla sakinleşti. Here ama = “but.” Note the tense change: with ama, you typically use a finite verb in the first clause (görünüyordu “was seeming/appeared”), whereas -se de directly subordinates the first clause.

Any pronunciation tips for şaşkın, hızla, and sakinleşti?

ş = “sh” in “shy.”
ı (undotted i) is a back, unrounded vowel; try saying a relaxed “uh” without rounding: şaşkın = shash-KIN (but with Turkish ı).
ğ isn’t present here, but note ö/ü in görünse: rounded front vowels, like German ö/ü.
hızla: HIHz-la (short first syllable; ı as above).
sakinleşti: saa-KEEN-lesh-TEE; stress typically near the end in verbs.