Breakdown of Işıklar kısıldığında gösteri başladı.
başlamak
to begin, to start
gösteri
show / performance
ışık
light (illumination)
kısmak
to dim / to turn down
Questions & Answers about Işıklar kısıldığında gösteri başladı.
How is kısıldığında formed to mean "when they were dimmed"?
It uses the exact-time pattern you are currently learning. We start with the verb root kısıl- (to be dimmed). Then we add -dık (which softens to -dığ- before a vowel), the 3rd person possessive suffix -ı, and the locative suffix -da (with a buffer -n-). Literally, it translates as "at the time of its being dimmed."
Why does it say kısıldığında instead of kıstığında?
Kıstığında comes from the active verb kısmak (to turn down or dim), which would mean "when he/she dimmed [it]." Since the lights aren't dimming themselves, we must use the passive voice. We add the passive suffix -ıl to kısmak to get kısılmak (to be dimmed).
Since Işıklar (lights) is plural, shouldn't the time clause be plural too (kısıldıklarında)?
You could say kısıldıklarında, but it is completely optional and usually avoided for non-human subjects. In Turkish, when a plural subject is not human (like lights, animals, or objects), the verbs and clauses attached to it normally stay in the singular form. That makes the singular possessive -ı in kısıldığında the most natural choice here.
Does the word gösteri (show) come from the verb göstermek (to show)?