Learn Hardcore Italian: È difficile parcheggiare in centro durante il mercato. - It is hard to park downtown during the market.

In Italian, adjectives expressing ease or difficulty—like difficile, facile, impossibile—take the bare infinitive directly. You never insert a or di between the adjective and the verb. So it’s always difficile parcheggiare, facile capire, impossibile trovare, etc.

Why is there no article in in centro? Could we say nel centro or al centro instead?

In centro (“downtown”) is a fixed, idiomatic locative expression and doesn’t use an article. Saying nel centro or al centro is grammatically correct but usually refers to the exact center of something (e.g. nel centro storico “in the historic core”). For the general sense “downtown,” stick with in centro.

What is the function of durante, and how is it different from mentre?

Durante is a preposition that must be followed by a noun or noun phrase (here il mercato). It means “during.” By contrast, mentre is a conjunction that introduces a full clause with its own verb (e.g. mentre il mercato è aperto). So you say durante il mercato vs. mentre c’è il mercato.

Why do we need the article il before mercato? Can it be omitted or made plural?

In Italian, most countable singular nouns require a definite article, so il mercato is correct. You cannot omit it: durante mercato would be ungrammatical. You could say durante i mercati (“during the markets”), which changes the meaning to multiple or recurring markets.

Could we use trovare parcheggio instead of parcheggiare? What’s the difference?

Yes. Parcheggiare means “to park,” focusing on the action. Trovare parcheggio literally means “to find parking,” focusing on locating a space. Both are common:
• È difficile parcheggiare in centro… (It’s hard to park…)
• È difficile trovare parcheggio in centro… (It’s hard to find a parking spot…)

How would you make the sentence personal, like “It’s difficult for me to park in the center during the market”?

You can use the impersonal construction with an indirect-object pronoun:
Mi è difficile parcheggiare in centro durante il mercato.
Here mi (“to me”) specifies for whom it’s difficult.

Can we invert the word order for emphasis? For example: In centro durante il mercato è difficile parcheggiare.

Yes, Italian is fairly flexible. That inversion is grammatically correct but sounds a bit heavier. The original È difficile parcheggiare in centro durante il mercato is more natural for everyday speech.

Are there synonyms for difficile that work in this sentence?

Certainly. You could say:
• È complicato parcheggiare… (It’s complicated to park…)
• È impegnativo parcheggiare… (It’s demanding to park…)
• È ostico parcheggiare… (It’s tricky to park…)
Each carries a slightly different nuance but is perfectly acceptable.