Learn Hardcore Turkish: Oyun sıkıcı görünse de seyirci sonuna kadar kaldı. - Even though the play looked boring, the audience stayed until the end.

görünse: conditional form of görünmek (“to seem / to appear”)
- stem: görün-
- conditional suffix: -se → görünse = “even if it seems / although it seems”
de: a conjunction meaning “though / even though / even if” here.

Together, görünse de is best understood as:

“even though (it) seems”
“although (it) appears”

So the whole beginning Oyun sıkıcı görünse de = “Even though the play looks boring / Even if the play is boring (or seems boring) …”

Why is the conditional -se used in görünse if the play really was boring?

The conditional -se here is not about a real or unreal condition in time; it’s a very common way in Turkish to introduce a contrast, like “even if / even though”.

In many sentences of this type:

-se
- de is used for concessive meaning (concession = “X is true, but still Y happens”):
  - Hava çok soğuk olsa da dışarı çıkacağım.
    “Even if / although it’s very cold, I’ll go out.”

So:

Oyun sıkıcı görünse de…
doesn’t necessarily mean the speaker doubts it was boring.
It’s functioning like an idiomatic “even though it (does / did) seem boring”.

The time reference of the whole sentence is anchored by kaldı (simple past). The subordinate clause with -se stays in a kind of “general / timeless” form but is understood in the same time frame:
“Even though the play seemed / was boring, the audience stayed …”

What is the difference between görünmek and görmek here?

görmek = “to see”
- Oyunu gördüm. – “I saw the play.”
görünmek = “to be seen / to appear / to seem”
- Oyun sıkıcı görünüyor. – “The play looks boring / seems boring.”
- Oyun sıkıcı görünse de… – “Even though the play seems boring…”

So in this sentence we need görünmek, because the idea is “the play seems boring”, not “the play sees something” or “someone sees the play”.

Why is oyun in the bare form (no suffix)? Why not oyunu or oyundan?

oyun here is the subject of the verb görünse (“the play seems…”), so it stays in the nominative (no case ending):

Oyun sıkıcı görünse… – The play seems boring…

Compare with other roles:

oyunu (accusative, definite object):
Oyunu izledim. – “I watched the play.”
oyundan (ablative, “from the play”):
Oyundan sıkıldım. – “I got bored of the play.”

Because here the play is the thing that seems boring, it’s the subject, so no ending: Oyun.

What exactly does sıkıcı mean, and how is it formed?

sıkıcı is an adjective meaning “boring”.

It comes from:

verb: sıkmak – “to squeeze; to bother; to bore”
adjective-forming suffix: -ıcı / -ici / -ucu / -ücü (depending on vowel harmony)

So:

sık-
- -ıcı → sıkıcı = “that which bores” → “boring”

A few similar patterns:

yor- (to tire) → yorucu – “tiring”
eğlen- (to have fun) → eğlenceli (different suffix, but similar function)
kork- (to fear) → korkutucu – “frightening”

In this sentence, oyun sıkıcı = “the play is boring / a boring play” (understood within the verb görünmek: “seems boring”).

Is seyirci singular or plural here? Shouldn’t it be seyirciler?

seyirci literally is “spectator” (singular), but in Turkish it is very often used as a collective noun, meaning “the audience” as a group.

So:

seyirci sonuna kadar kaldı.
can naturally mean “the audience stayed until the end.”

If you say:

Seyirciler sonuna kadar kaldı.

that usually puts a bit more emphasis on individual people:
“(The) spectators stayed until the end.”

Both are grammatically correct; using singular seyirci as “audience” is very natural in Turkish, just like polis (police), asker (soldier / the military), etc. can refer to a group.

How does sonuna kadar work grammatically?

sonuna kadar literally breaks down as:

son – “end”
sonu – “its end / the end (of it)”
- -u = 3rd person singular possessive (“its”)
sonuna – “to its end”
- -a (or -e) here is the dative case (“to”)
kadar – a postposition meaning “until / up to”

So:

sonuna kadar ≈ “until its end / until the end (of it)”

The “its” usually refers to something mentioned earlier in context (here, naturally, the play):

“(They stayed) until the end (of the play).”

You can also see kadar with other nouns:

sabaha kadar – “until morning”
akşama kadar – “until evening”
buraya kadar – “up to here / until here”

What does de do here? Is it the same -de as in the locative case (“in/at/on”)?

No, this de is a separate word and acts as a conjunction meaning “though / even though”.

Two different things:

-de / -da as a suffix (locative case):
- attached to the noun
- no space
- means “in / at / on”
- evde – “at home”
- okulda – “at school”
de / da as a separate word (here):
- written separated: görünse de
- can mean “also/too”, or in structures like this, “though / even though”
- stressed differently in speech

In görünse de, it is part of the fixed concessive pattern -se de:

…se de ≈ “even if / even though”

So it is not locative; it’s a conjunction joining the clause to what follows.

Can the word order be changed? For example: Seyirci, oyun sıkıcı görünse de, sonuna kadar kaldı. Is that okay?

Yes, Turkish word order is flexible, and the sentence you gave is grammatical:

Seyirci, oyun sıkıcı görünse de, sonuna kadar kaldı.

This version:

brings seyirci (the audience) to the front → slightly more emphasis on who stayed.
uses commas around the concessive clause, which is also fine in writing.

Possible variants (all natural):

Oyun sıkıcı görünse de seyirci sonuna kadar kaldı.
Seyirci oyun sıkıcı görünse de sonuna kadar kaldı.
Seyirci, oyun sıkıcı görünse de, sonuna kadar kaldı.

The main rule: the finite verb of the main clause (kaldı) usually comes at or near the end. The concessive clause oyun sıkıcı görünse de can appear before or after the main clause, depending on what you want to emphasize.

Could we say Oyun sıkıcı görünüyordu ama seyirci sonuna kadar kaldı instead? What’s the difference from görünse de?

Yes, that sentence is correct and natural:

Oyun sıkıcı görünüyordu ama seyirci sonuna kadar kaldı.

Comparison:

görünüyordu ama = “seemed (was seeming) … but”
- past progressive (-ıyordu) in the first clause
- ama is a straightforward “but”.
- Slightly more neutral, descriptive contrast.
görünse de = “even though it seems / even if it seems”
- conditional + de gives a more concessive, sometimes slightly stronger or more “bookish” feel.
- Often used in more formal or written style, though it’s also spoken.

Meaning-wise, both communicate “The play was boring / seemed boring, but still the audience stayed.”
görünse de makes the “despite that” relationship a bit tighter and more explicit as a concessive structure.

Could we also say Oyun sıkıcı olmasına rağmen seyirci sonuna kadar kaldı? How does that compare to görünse de?

Yes, very natural:

Oyun sıkıcı olmasına rağmen seyirci sonuna kadar kaldı.

Here:

olmasına rağmen = “although it is / was” or “despite being”
- olmak – “to be”
- olma-sı – “its being” (verbal noun with possessive)
- olmasına rağmen – “despite its being / although it is (was)”

Differences:

sıkıcı görünse de – “even though it seems boring” (focus on appearance/perception)
sıkıcı olmasına rağmen – “although it is boring” (focus on the state itself, more factual)

So görünse de leaves a small nuance of “seems (to the viewer)” whereas olmasına rağmen presents the boringness more as an objective fact. Both convey a similar overall message, with a slightly different nuance.