Learn Turkish: Öyle gizemli bir ormandı ki her şey gizliydi. - It was such a mysterious forest that everything was hidden.

In this lesson, ki is used to show a consequence. When paired with öyle (so/such), it creates the pattern "such a... that...". So, öyle gizemli bir ormandı ki means "It was such a mysterious forest that...".

What is the difference between "gizemli" and "gizli" here?

They share a similar origin but mean different things. Gizem means "mystery", so adding the -li suffix (which means "having" or "with") makes gizemli (mysterious). Giz means "secret", and adding -li makes gizli (hidden or secret).

Why does "gizliydi" have a "y" before the past tense suffix, but "ormandı" doesn't?

To say "was" with a noun or adjective, you add the past tense suffix (-dı / -di / -du / -dü). When the word ends in a vowel, like gizli, you must add the buffer letter y, making it gizliydi. Because orman ends in a consonant, it just takes -dı directly to become ormandı.

Is "her şey" (everything) always written as two separate words?

Yes! It translates to "everything" (literally "every thing"). In Turkish, the word şey (thing) is always written as a separate word from the word before it, even though they are usually spoken quickly as a single unit.