Kusura bakma, ben ördeklere ekmek vermenin yasak olduğunu bilmiyordum.

It is a very common apology expression, roughly sorry or excuse me.

Literally, it comes from:

• kusur = fault, flaw
• bakma = do not look

So the literal sense is something like do not look at my fault. But in real usage, learners should treat kusura bakma as a fixed phrase meaning sorry.

Bakma is the informal singular form, used when speaking to one person casually.

Compare:

• kusura bakma = sorry, informal, to one person
• kusura bakmayın = sorry, polite or plural

So this sentence sounds like the speaker is talking casually to one person.

No, it is not strictly necessary.

Turkish verbs already show the subject:

• bilmiyordum already means I did not know

So ben can be omitted:

• Kusura bakma, ördeklere ekmek vermenin yasak olduğunu bilmiyordum.

When ben is included, it can add a little emphasis, contrast, or personal involvement, something like I personally did not know.

Because vermek normally uses the dative for the recipient.

The structure is:

• birine bir şey vermek = to give something to someone

So:

• ördek = duck
• ördekler = ducks
• ördeklere = to the ducks

That is why ördeklere ekmek vermek means to give bread to the ducks.

Here ekmek is a non-specific direct object, so it appears without the accusative ending.

Compare:

• ekmek vermek = to give bread, bread in general
• ekmeği vermek = to give the bread, a specific bread

In this sentence, the meaning is general: feeding bread to ducks, not giving one particular loaf or piece of bread.

This is one of the most important grammar points in the sentence.

If you say the idea by itself, you can say:

• Ördeklere ekmek vermek yasak.
• Feeding bread to the ducks is forbidden.

But when that whole idea becomes something you know or do not know, Turkish often turns it into an embedded clause:

• ördeklere ekmek vermenin yasak olduğunu bilmiyordum

Here, vermenin comes from:

• verme = giving, the act of giving
• vermenin = of giving, or more structurally, that giving

It has the genitive ending because it functions like the subject of the embedded clause, similar to:

• Ali'nin hasta olduğunu biliyorum.
• I know that Ali is sick.

So the pattern is similar:

• vermenin yasak olduğunu
• that giving bread to the ducks is forbidden

Olduğunu helps turn yasak into part of a subordinate clause after bilmek.

A simple sentence is:

• Ördeklere ekmek vermek yasak.
• Feeding bread to the ducks is forbidden.

But after a verb like bilmek, Turkish usually says:

• yasak olduğunu bilmek
• to know that it is forbidden

So in this sentence:

• vermenin yasak olduğunu bilmiyordum
• I did not know that feeding bread to the ducks was forbidden

A rough breakdown:

• ol- = be, become
• -duk = clause-forming suffix
• -u = possessive agreement
• -nu = accusative, because the whole clause is the object of bilmek

Learners do not need to fully analyze it every time, but it helps to recognize olduğunu as a common way to say that it is/was after verbs like know, think, hear, and see.

In Turkish, yasak itself means forbidden or a prohibition. It is often used like a predicate:

• Sigara içmek yasak.
• Smoking is forbidden.

So Turkish does not always need a separate word matching English is in simple present statements. In embedded structures, though, you often get:

• yasak olduğunu

That is why the sentence uses yasak olduğunu rather than a separate verb meaning exactly is forbidden.

Because knowing is usually treated as a state, not a single completed action.

• bilmiyordum = I did not know, I was unaware
• bilmedim = I did not know, but often sounds more event-like or tied to a specific moment

In apologies and explanations, bilmiyordum is the natural choice because the speaker is describing their past state of not knowing.

So:

• Kusura bakma... bilmiyordum feels like
• Sorry... I did not know

Turkish usually places the main verb at the end.

So the structure is:

• Kusura bakma,

• apology phrase first

• ben

• subject

• ördeklere ekmek vermenin yasak olduğunu

• the whole thing that was not known

• bilmiyordum
• main verb at the end

A natural way to think about it is:

• Sorry, I did not know [that feeding bread to the ducks was forbidden].

Everything the speaker did not know comes before bilmiyordum.

Yes. The standalone statement is:

• Ördeklere ekmek vermek yasak.
• Feeding bread to the ducks is forbidden.

Then the full sentence builds on that idea and embeds it under I did not know:

• Ördeklere ekmek vermenin yasak olduğunu bilmiyordum.

So a useful way to learn it is:

1. Ördeklere ekmek vermek yasak.
2. Ben bunun yasak olduğunu bilmiyordum.
3. Then combine them into the full sentence: Ben ördeklere ekmek vermenin yasak olduğunu bilmiyordum.