Question 1

Why is it olduğu instead of the simple past tense oldu?

Accepted Answer

To say 'what happened', the phrase has to act as the subject of the main sentence. Turkish does this by turning the action into a noun clause using the factive suffix -dık. Here, ol (happen) + -duk + -u (3rd person possessive) creates the noun phrase. Since it is the subject of the overall sentence, it does not take any additional case markers (it remains in the nominative zero case).

Question 2

Who is the 'possessor' triggering the 3rd person possessive ending -u on olduğu?

Accepted Answer

The subject of the embedded clause is the question word ne (what). Even though it represents an unknown event, ne is grammatically a 3rd person singular subject, which is why it requires the 3rd person possessive suffix -u on the -dık verbal noun.

Question 3

Does embedding the question word ne change how this clause is built?

Accepted Answer

Not at all. English has specific rules for indirect questions, but Turkish uses the exact same -dık clause structure for both statements and embedded questions. The phrase ne olduğu structurally works just like a regular factive clause such as kaza olduğu (that an accident happened).

Question 4

Why doesn't the sentence end with a verb or the 'to be' suffix -dır?

Accepted Answer

The sentence is an 'A is B' statement where the subject is the whole noun clause and the predicate is hâlâ bir muamma. In Turkish, the present tense copula (-dır / -dir) is frequently dropped in standard everyday language. The sentence is perfectly complete without it.

O gece ormanda ne olduğu hâlâ bir muamma.

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