Kaşlarını kaldırınca çok şaşırmış göründü.

Kaşlarını can be analyzed as:

• kaş = eyebrow
• -lar = plural
• -ı = his/her/their
• -nı = accusative ending

So kaşlarını kaldırmak means to raise his/her eyebrows.

A very common point for learners is that Turkish often uses a possessive ending with body parts:

• elini kaldırdı = he/she raised his/her hand
• gözlerini kapadı = he/she closed his/her eyes
• kaşlarını kaldırdı = he/she raised his/her eyebrows

Even though English often just says raised his eyebrows, Turkish builds that ownership directly into the noun.

Because kaşlarını is the direct object of kaldırmak (to raise / lift).

In Turkish, specific direct objects usually take the accusative. Here, the eyebrows are specific: his/her eyebrows, not just eyebrows in general.

Compare:

• kaş kaldırmak = to raise eyebrows in a general sense
• kaşlarını kaldırmak = to raise his/her eyebrows

So the -nı marks the object as definite/specific.

Kaldırınca comes from:

• kaldırmak = to raise
• -ınca / -ince = when, once, upon

So kaldırınca means something like:

• when he/she raised
• upon raising
• once he/she raised

It connects the first action to the main clause.

A useful pattern is:

• gelince = when he/she came
• görünce = when he/she saw
• bitirince = when he/she finished

So here:

• Kaşlarını kaldırınca... = When he/she raised his/her eyebrows...

Not by itself. -ınca/-ince does not mark person.

So kaldırınca literally just means when raising / when he/she raised / when they raised, depending on context.

The subject is understood from the sentence or situation. In this sentence, the most natural reading is that the same person did both things:

• raised their eyebrows
• looked very surprised

So it is normally understood as:

• When he/she raised his/her eyebrows, he/she looked very surprised.

Because şaşırmış is being used like an adjective-like participle with görünmek.

This is a very common Turkish structure:

• şaşırmış görünmek = to look/seem surprised
• yorulmuş görünmek = to look tired
• üzülmüş görünmek = to look upset
• korkmuş görünmek = to look frightened

So here şaşırmış does not simply function as a normal past-tense finite verb. It describes the person’s apparent state: surprised-looking.

That is why çok şaşırmış göründü means something like:

• he/she looked very surprised
• he/she seemed very surprised

Not in the main-clause sense.

Learners often first meet -mış as a past tense meaning apparently / reportedly / I later found out. But here şaşırmış is not the main verb of the sentence. The main verb is göründü.

In şaşırmış göründü, şaşırmış works more like a participle/adjectival form, meaning:

• surprised
• having become surprised
• in a surprised state

So the sentence is not mainly saying apparently he/she was surprised. It is saying he/she appeared/seemed surprised.

Here göründü means appeared, seemed, or looked.

Although görünmek is related to görmek (to see), in this kind of sentence it often means:

• to appear
• to look
• to seem

So:

• şaşırmış göründü = he/she looked surprised
• mutlu göründü = he/she looked happy
• yorgun göründü = he/she looked tired

It is not really was seen in this sentence. It is more about how the person appeared.

You could, and it would also be natural.

There is a small nuance:

• şaşkın = surprised / bewildered / confused-looking as an adjective
• şaşırmış = having become surprised; in a surprised state

So:

• şaşkın göründü = he/she looked surprised/bewildered
• şaşırmış göründü = he/she looked as if he/she had been surprised

In many contexts, the difference is small. But şaşırmış göründü can feel a bit more like the person seemed to have reacted with surprise.

Çok here means very and modifies şaşırmış.

So:

• şaşırmış göründü = looked surprised
• çok şaşırmış göründü = looked very surprised

This is a very common use of çok before adjectives or adjective-like words:

• çok mutlu = very happy
• çok yorgun = very tired
• çok üzgün = very sad

The word order is natural and typical for Turkish.

• Kaşlarını kaldırınca = subordinate clause first
• çok şaşırmış = description of appearance
• göründü = main verb at the end

Turkish often places the main verb last. So the sentence structure is very normal:

[When he/she raised his/her eyebrows] [very surprised] [appeared]

You could rearrange parts in some contexts for emphasis, but this version is straightforward and idiomatic.

The Turkish sentence itself does not specify gender, so it could be:

• he
• she
• sometimes they, depending on context

Also, kaşlarını only tells us his/her/their eyebrows, not the gender.

So you need context to know who the subject is. This is very common in Turkish: pronouns are often omitted when the context already makes the subject clear.

Yes, definitely.

Because of şaşırmış göründü, the sentence is about how the person seemed, not necessarily what they truly felt inside.

So the nuance is:

• The person appeared very surprised
• The person looked very surprised

That leaves open the possibility that this is just the observer’s impression. This is one reason Turkish uses görünmek here instead of simply saying the person was surprised.