Damat heyecanlı görünüyordu, gelin ise çok sakindi.

Because the two halves of the sentence are built differently.

• Damat heyecanlı görünüyordu = The groom looked/seemed excited

  • Here, heyecanlı is an adjective linked to the verb görünmek (to look / to seem).
  • So the main verb is görünüyordu, not heyecanlı.

• Gelin ise çok sakindi = The bride, however, was very calm

  • Here, sakin is the main predicate, so it takes the past copula: sakin-di.

So:

• heyecanlı görünüyordu = looked excited
• sakindi = was calm

Görünüyordu comes from görünmek, which means to look, to seem, to appear.

It breaks down like this:

• görün- = verb stem
• -üyor = present continuous marker
• -du = past marker

So literally it is something like was seeming / was looking, but in natural English we usually say looked or seemed.

In this sentence, heyecanlı görünüyordu means:

• he looked excited
• or he seemed excited

The y is a buffer consonant.

Turkish often inserts y when one suffix ending in a vowel is followed by another suffix beginning with a vowel, to make pronunciation smoother.

Here:

• görün-üyor
• plus past -du

This becomes:

• görünüyor-du
• written as görünüyordu

That y helps connect the sounds smoothly.

İse adds contrast or comparison. In this sentence, it means something like:

• as for
• whereas
• while
• however

So:

• Damat heyecanlı görünüyordu, gelin ise çok sakindi.

has the feeling of:

• The groom looked excited, whereas the bride was very calm.

It is a softer, more elegant contrast marker than some other options.

Both can show contrast, but they are used a little differently.

• ama = but
• ise = whereas / as for / while

In this sentence, ise works well because it contrasts two people in a balanced way:

• Damat ... , gelin ise ...

This sounds neat and natural.

If you used ama, the sentence would still make sense, but it would feel a bit more like a direct contrast:

• Damat heyecanlı görünüyordu ama gelin çok sakindi.

That means:

• The groom looked excited, but the bride was very calm.

So:

• ise = comparison/contrast between two topics
• ama = more straightforward but

Turkish does not have articles like the or a/an in the same way English does.

So:

• damat can mean groom or the groom
• gelin can mean bride or the bride

The context tells you which one is meant. In this sentence, it is clearly referring to specific people, so English naturally uses the groom and the bride.

Turkish often leaves out subject pronouns when they are unnecessary.

Here, the nouns themselves are the subjects:

• Damat = the groom
• gelin = the bride

So there is no need to add o (he/she/it).

This is very common in Turkish. Subjects are often omitted if the meaning is already clear from the noun or the verb.

Heyecanlı means excited, nervous-excited, or full of excitement depending on context.

It comes from:

• heyecan = excitement
• -lı = having, with, full of

So heyecanlı literally means something like having excitement.

This -lı/-li/-lu/-lü suffix is very common in Turkish.

Examples:

• tuz = salt → tuzlu = salty
• umut = hope → umutlu = hopeful
• heyecan = excitement → heyecanlı = excited

Çok means very here.

In Turkish, degree words like çok usually come before the adjective:

• çok sakin = very calm
• çok güzel = very beautiful
• çok yorgun = very tired

So:

• çok sakindi = was very calm

The -di marks past time.

• sakin = calm
• sakin-di = was calm

This is the past form of a nominal/adjectival predicate.

Similarly:

• mutlu = happy → mutluydu = was happy
• hasta = sick → hastaydı = was sick
• sakin = calm → sakindi = was calm

The exact shape of the suffix changes because of vowel harmony and consonant harmony:

• -dı, -di, -du, -dü
• sometimes -tı, -ti, -tu, -tü

Because sakin ends in a consonant, so the past copula attaches directly:

• sakin + di → sakindi

You usually see a buffer y before this kind of ending when the word ends in a vowel:

• mutlu + ydu → mutluydu
• hasta + ydı → hastaydı

So:

• consonant-ending word: sakin-di
• vowel-ending word: mutlu-ydu

Yes, Turkish word order is flexible, although some orders sound more natural than others.

The given sentence:

• Damat heyecanlı görünüyordu, gelin ise çok sakindi.

is very natural and neutral.

You might also hear variations like:

• Gelin ise çok sakindi, damat heyecanlı görünüyordu.
• Damat görünüşe göre heyecanlıydı, gelin ise çok sakindi.
  (slightly different wording)

But the original version is nice because it presents one person, then contrasts with the other.

This is a very useful distinction.

• heyecanlıydı = he was excited
• heyecanlı görünüyordu = he looked/seemed excited

So görünüyordu is about appearance or impression, not necessarily a confirmed inner state.

That means the sentence is slightly more observational:

• the speaker is describing how the groom appeared

Whereas heyecanlıydı states it more directly as a fact.

The comma separates the two contrasted clauses:

• Damat heyecanlı görünüyordu
• gelin ise çok sakindi

This makes the contrast easier to read, especially because ise introduces the second topic.

In English, you would also usually separate these two parts:

• The groom looked excited, whereas the bride was very calm.

Often yes, but not only that.

Görünmek can mean:

• to look
• to seem
• to appear

So it can describe literal appearance or a general impression.

In this sentence, heyecanlı görünüyordu can mean:

• he visually looked excited
• he gave the impression of being excited

So it is broader than just physical appearance.

A rough word-for-word layout would be:

• Damat = groom
• heyecanlı = excited
• görünüyordu = was looking / seemed
• gelin = bride
• ise = whereas / as for
• çok = very
• sakindi = was calm

So very literally:

• The groom excited seemed, the bride however very calm-was.

Of course, that is not natural English, but it helps show how the Turkish sentence is built.