Learn Hardcore Turkish: Tiyatro salonu küçük olsa bile seyirci çok dikkatli dinledi. - Even if the theater hall was small, the audience listened very attentively.

In Tiyatro salonu küçük olsa bile, it means “even though the theatre hall was small”. The verb dinledi (simple past) gives the overall past-time meaning; olsa bile itself is not marked for past, present, or future.

Why is it küçük olsa bile, and not küçük bile olsa? Are both correct?

Both are grammatically correct, but the nuance changes slightly.

Tiyatro salonu küçük olsa bile …
Focuses on the whole situation: “Even though the theatre hall was small (in general), …”
Tiyatro salonu küçük bile olsa …
Here bile is attached to küçük and highlights the adjective:
“Even if it is small (rather than big / despite being small), …”
It sounds more like you’re contrasting small with some other expected quality.

In everyday speech, küçük olsa bile is more neutral and common in this type of clause.

What exactly is olsa grammatically? Is it present, past, or something else?

Olsa is the 3rd person singular conditional form of olmak:

stem: ol-
conditional suffix: -sa / -se
3rd person: no extra personal ending → olsa = “if it is/if it were”

The conditional form itself does not fix the time.
The time reference usually comes from the main verb (dinledi, past) and the context. So here it’s understood as “even though it was small”.

Could we say Tiyatro salonu küçük olmasına rağmen seyirci çok dikkatli dinledi instead? What’s the difference?

Yes, that sentence is correct and natural. The meaning is very close:

… küçük olsa bile … ≈ even though it was small (colloquial/neutral)
… küçük olmasına rağmen … ≈ although / despite (its) being small (a bit more formal, more clearly concessive)

Grammatically:

küçük olsa bile: adjective + olsa (conditional) + bile
küçük olmasına rağmen: verbal noun ol-ma-sı
- dative -na
  - postposition rağmen

Both express a contrast, but olsa bile is shorter and a bit more conversational.

Why is it tiyatro salonu and not just tiyatro salon? What does the -u on salonu do?

Tiyatro salonu is a possessive noun compound:

tiyatro = theatre
salon-u = its hall (salon + 3rd person possessive -u)

Literally, it’s “theatre’s hall”, which in English is “the theatre hall”.

Turkish typically forms such combinations with a possessive ending on the second noun (tiyatro salonu, okul müdürü, araba kapısı).
Tiyatro salon without -u is not idiomatic here; it sounds incomplete or ungrammatical.

Could salonu here be an object in the accusative case?

No, not in this sentence.

The form salonu is ambiguous in isolation (it could be possessive “its hall” or accusative “the hall”), but we know it is not accusative because:

There is no verb before it that could take it as an object.
In the clause Tiyatro salonu küçük olsa bile, tiyatro salonu is clearly the subject:
“Even though the theatre hall was small …”

So here salonu is 3rd person possessive, part of a noun compound, not an accusative object.

Why doesn’t tiyatro salonu have any extra case ending if it is the subject?

In Turkish, the default subject case is the bare (nominative) form, which typically has no visible ending.

Tiyatro salonu is in the nominative: “the theatre hall” as subject.
You only see a case ending (like -i, -e, -de, -den) when the noun is an object, indirect object, location, etc.

So tiyatro salonu already includes the possessive -u but has no added case suffix, because as a subject it stays in the basic form.

Does seyirci mean one person or a whole audience? Why isn’t it plural?

Seyirci has two common uses:

Singular: “a spectator / a viewer”
Collective singular: “the audience” (as a group word)

In Seyirci çok dikkatli dinledi, it’s the second meaning: “the audience listened very carefully.”
Turkish often uses a singular collective noun (like seyirci, halk, gençlik) to refer to a group.

You could also say:

Seyirciler çok dikkatli dinledi(ler). = The spectators / audience members listened very carefully.

That version emphasizes individual people a bit more.

Should it be dinledi or dinlediler with seyirci? Which is more correct?

Both forms are possible, but dinledi is more common here.

Seyirci çok dikkatli dinledi.
Treats seyirci as a collective singular (like English “the audience listened”). Verb stays in 3rd person singular, which feels natural.
Seyirci çok dikkatli dinlediler.
Grammatically possible, but sounds more colloquial and emphasizes that the audience consists of many people. It’s a kind of semantic plural agreement.

Standard written Turkish tends to prefer dinledi with collective nouns like seyirci.

Why is dikkatli used here and not dikkatlice? Aren’t adverbs supposed to have -ce/-ca?

In Turkish, adjectives can function as adverbs without any change in form.

So:

dikkatli çocuk = a careful child (adjective)
dikkatli dinledi = listened carefully (adverbial use of the same word)

Dikkatlice also exists and is not wrong (dikkatlice dinledi), but:

dikkatli dinledi is more frequent and neutral.
dikkatlice can sound a bit more marked or literary in many contexts.

So seyirci çok dikkatli dinledi is completely standard and idiomatic.

What does çok contribute here? Is it “very carefully” or “listened a lot”?

Here çok is intensifying dikkatli, so it means “very carefully”:

dikkatli dinledi = listened carefully
çok dikkatli dinledi = listened very carefully / extremely carefully

If you want “listened a lot / listened for a long time”, you would phrase it differently, e.g.:

Çok dinledi. (He/She/They listened a lot.)
Uzun süre dinledi. (He/She/They listened for a long time.)

Could we say seyirci çok dikkatli dinliyordu instead of dinledi? What would change?

Yes, that’s also correct, but the aspect changes:

dinledi = simple past, completed action:
“The audience listened very carefully (and that’s the whole event).”
dinliyordu = past continuous, ongoing action in the past:
“The audience was listening very carefully (at that time / while something else was happening).”

The original sentence with dinledi just states the fact as a completed event; dinliyordu would usually appear in a narrative context, often alongside another past event.

Why is the word order Seyirci çok dikkatli dinledi and not Seyirci dinledi çok dikkatli?

Turkish typically places manner adverbs and their modifiers before the verb:

seyirci [çok dikkatli] dinledi

This order is natural and unmarked.
Seyirci dinledi çok dikkatli is possible but sounds marked and stylistic, often used only for emphasis or in poetic/creative language.

In neutral prose, you normally keep the pattern:
Subject – (time) – (place) – (manner) – verb → Seyirci çok dikkatli dinledi.