Kızım, pastanın etrafına mavi kurdele bağlamış; davetliler görünce çok beğendi.

Kızım is kız + -ım, where -ım is the 1st person singular possessive ending: my.

So:

• kız = girl / daughter
• kızım = my daughter

In this sentence, the natural reading is my daughter.

A small extra point: the comma after kızım is a little unusual if it is simply the subject. In very careful writing, many people would write Kızım pastanın etrafına... with no comma. With the comma, it can sound like a pause for emphasis, or sometimes like direct address. But here most learners will understand it as my daughter.

Turkish often expresses this idea with a genitive + possessed noun + case ending structure.

Breakdown:

• pasta = cake
• pastanın = of the cake
• etraf = around / surroundings
• etrafı = its around / its surroundings
• etrafına = to/onto its around

So pastanın etrafına literally works like to the cake’s around, and naturally means around the cake.

This is a very common Turkish pattern with words like üst (top), alt (bottom), iç (inside), dış (outside), yan (side), ön (front), arka (back), etraf (around/surroundings).

For example:

• masanın üstüne = onto the table
• evin içine = into the house
• bahçenin etrafına = around the garden

Because the verb is describing putting/tieing something into position around the cake, not just describing where something is.

• -a / -e (here -na) is the dative, often showing direction or target.
• -da / -de (here -nda) is the locative, showing location.

So:

• pastanın etrafına kurdele bağlamak = to tie a ribbon around the cake
• pastanın etrafında kurdele var = there is a ribbon around the cake / in the area around the cake

With bağlamak, the dative form is the natural choice because the ribbon is being attached to/around something.

Because mavi kurdele is an indefinite direct object.

In Turkish:

• an indefinite direct object often has no accusative ending
• a definite/specific direct object usually takes the accusative

So:

• mavi kurdele bağlamış = tied a blue ribbon
• mavi kurdeleyi bağlamış = tied the / that specific blue ribbon

This is a very important Turkish pattern. English usually requires an article or relies on context, but Turkish often shows the difference through whether the object takes the accusative.

Bağlamış uses the -mış / -miş / -muş / -müş form, often called the inferential, reportive, or evidential past.

Compared with bağladı, it can suggest things like:

• the speaker did not directly witness it
• the speaker learned it later
• the speaker is inferring it from the result
• the speaker is giving a slightly more narrative/discovered tone

So:

• bağladı = she tied it
• bağlamış = she apparently tied it / she had tied it / it turns out she tied it

The exact English translation depends on context, but the key idea is that -mış adds a special information-source or discovery nuance.

Because Turkish can change past forms depending on the speaker’s perspective on each event.

Here:

• bağlamış presents the first event with -mış nuance: inferred, discovered, or reported
• beğendi presents the second event as a straightforward past event

This is normal Turkish. It is not a mistake or tense mismatch.

A rough way to feel the contrast is:

• Kızım ... bağlamış = my daughter had/apparently had tied...
• davetliler ... beğendi = the guests liked it...

So the sentence can shift viewpoint between clauses.

Görünce comes from the verb görmek (to see) plus the converb ending -(y)ınca / -(y)ince / -(y)unca / -(y)ünce.

So:

• gör- = see
• görünce = when (someone) sees / when they saw / upon seeing

In this sentence:

• davetliler görünce = when the guests saw it

This form is very common in Turkish for when, once, or upon doing something.

Examples:

• Eve gelince beni ara. = Call me when you get home.
• Onu görünce güldüm. = I laughed when I saw him/her.

Because in Turkish, an explicit plural subject can often take a singular 3rd person verb, especially when the group is viewed as acting together.

So both of these are possible:

• Davetliler çok beğendi.
• Davetliler çok beğendiler.

The singular verb is very common and fully natural. The plural verb can sound a little more explicit or can emphasize the individuals in the group.

This is different from English, where the guests liked must be plural.

Turkish very often omits objects and pronouns when they are clear from context.

Here, after hearing the first clause, the listener can easily understand what was seen and liked: probably

• the ribbon,
• the decoration,
• or the cake as decorated.

So Turkish leaves that object unspoken.

English usually needs it:

• when the guests saw it, they liked it a lot

Turkish can simply say:

• davetliler görünce çok beğendi

with the object understood from context.

Here çok is functioning as an adverb, modifying the verb beğendi.

So it means:

• liked it a lot
• liked it very much

It is not describing a noun here.

Compare:

• çok güzel pasta = a very beautiful cake
• çok beğendi = liked it very much

So çok can modify either adjectives or verbs depending on context.

The semicolon is mostly a punctuation/style choice. It links two closely related clauses while showing a stronger pause than a comma.

So the writer is signaling:

• first event: the ribbon was tied around the cake
• second event: when the guests saw it, they liked it a lot

A period could also work. A comma is also possible in less formal writing. Ve could be used in some rewordings, but it would slightly change the flow.

The semicolon simply gives the sentence a neat, connected, written style.