Nikâhta giyeceği etek biraz uzundu, terzi yarına kadar kısaltacakmış.

Nikâh means marriage ceremony or wedding ceremony, often specifically the official/civil part of a wedding.

The ending -da / -de / -ta / -te is the locative suffix, meaning in, at, on. So:

• nikâh = wedding ceremony
• nikâhta = at the wedding ceremony

It appears as -ta here because the final sound of nikâh is treated as voiceless, so the suffix hardens from -da to -ta.

A useful contrast:

• nikâh = the formal marriage ceremony
• düğün = the wedding celebration/party more generally

Giyeceği comes from the verb giymek, meaning to wear.

A rough breakdown is:

• giy- = wear
• -ecek = future / going to
• -(s)i = a 3rd-person agreement ending used in this kind of subordinate structure

So giyeceği means something like:

• that he/she will wear
• that he/she is going to wear

In the sentence, it modifies etek:

• nikâhta giyeceği etek = the skirt that he/she will wear at the wedding

You can think of it as a built-in relative clause.

Because Turkish usually forms relative clauses differently from English.

English often uses a separate relative word:

• the skirt that she will wear

Turkish usually turns the verb into an adjective-like form and puts it before the noun:

• giyeceği etek

So instead of using a separate that/which, Turkish packages the meaning into the verb form itself.

That is a very common pattern in Turkish:

• okuduğum kitap = the book that I read
• gideceğimiz yer = the place that we will go to
• giyeceği etek = the skirt that he/she will wear

Not in the simple possessive sense.

This is a very common point of confusion, because the ending in forms like giyeceği looks like a possessive ending. In this structure, though, it is marking the subject of the subordinate clause, not simply possession of the noun.

So:

• giyeceği etek does not just mean his/her skirt
• it means the skirt that he/she will wear

The 3rd person is built into the form, but Turkish does not mark gender here, so it could mean:

• the skirt that she will wear
• the skirt that he will wear

Context tells you which one is intended.

Here etek is the head noun of the phrase nikâhta giyeceği etek and also the subject of the clause.

So it stays in its basic form:

• etek = skirt

It is not accusative, because it is not the direct object here.

Also, Turkish has no word exactly like English the. A bare noun can often correspond to the skirt in English if the context makes it clear which skirt is meant.

So:

• nikâhta giyeceği etek = the skirt she will wear at the wedding

Even though Turkish does not explicitly say the.

• biraz = a little, a bit, somewhat
• uzun = long
• uzundu = was long

So biraz uzundu means:

• it was a bit long
• it was somewhat long

Depending on tone, biraz can sound quite mild, like a little, or sometimes more like rather.

Because uzun is just the adjective long, while uzundu means was long.

The -du here is the past form of the copula, historically related to idi.

So:

• uzun = long
• uzundu = was long

This is very common in Turkish:

• güzeldi = it was beautiful
• zordu = it was difficult
• büyüktü = it was big
• uzundu = it was long

Kısaltacakmış can be broken down like this:

• kısalt- = shorten
• -acak = future, going to
• -mış = reported/hearsay/inferred information

So it means something like:

• apparently the tailor will shorten it
• I hear the tailor is going to shorten it
• it seems the tailor will shorten it

The verb kısaltmak means to shorten / to make shorter.

So the second clause:

• terzi yarına kadar kısaltacakmış

means:

• Apparently, the tailor will shorten it by tomorrow.

The ending -mış adds an indirect evidential meaning. It usually suggests that the speaker is not stating the information as direct, plain fact from their own immediate knowledge.

Depending on context, it can mean:

• I heard that...
• apparently...
• it seems...
• so... (it turns out)

So there is a difference between:

• terzi yarına kadar kısaltacak = the tailor will shorten it by tomorrow
• terzi yarına kadar kısaltacakmış = apparently / I hear the tailor will shorten it by tomorrow

In this sentence, -mış makes the second clause sound reported or inferred rather than simply asserted.

Because yarına kadar means until tomorrow or, more naturally in English here, by tomorrow.

Breakdown:

• yarın = tomorrow
• yarına = to tomorrow / until tomorrow
• kadar = up to, until

So:

• yarın kısaltacak = will shorten it tomorrow
• yarına kadar kısaltacakmış = will have it shortened by tomorrow / will shorten it by tomorrow

The phrase gives a deadline, not just a day when the action happens.

Turkish normally puts modifiers before the noun they describe, and the verb usually comes at the end of the clause.

So in the first clause:

• nikâhta giyeceği etek = literally something like at-the-wedding will-wear skirt

This is normal Turkish order:

1. location/time/etc.
2. relative-clause verb form
3. noun being described

Then the predicate comes later:

• biraz uzundu = was a bit long

The second clause also ends with the verb:

• terzi yarına kadar kısaltacakmış
• literally: the tailor by tomorrow will-shorten-apparently

So the overall word order is very natural Turkish, even though it feels reversed compared with English.

Because the sentence describes:

1. a present-or-past situation about the skirt’s length, and
2. a future solution to that problem

So:

• etek biraz uzundu = the skirt was a bit long
• terzi yarına kadar kısaltacakmış = apparently the tailor will shorten it by tomorrow

This combination is perfectly normal. English does this too:

• The skirt was a bit long, but the tailor will shorten it by tomorrow.

The first clause describes the condition; the second clause describes what is going to happen next.

Yes, very often that is the best natural translation.

Just keep in mind that nikâh is a bit more specific than the English word wedding. It often refers to the formal marriage ceremony itself, especially the civil/legal ceremony.

So:

• nikâhta giyeceği etek = the skirt she’ll wear at the wedding
• more literally = the skirt she’ll wear at the marriage ceremony

In many everyday contexts, though, at the wedding is exactly the translation a learner should expect.