Yolda yürürken garip bir ses işittim, ama nereden geldiğini anlayamadım.

It literally means while walking on the road / on the way.

• yolda = on the road, on the way
  • yol = road, way
  • -da = locative ending, meaning in/on/at
• yürürken = while walking
  • from yürümek = to walk
  • -ken = while

So Yolda yürürken is a very natural way to say while I was walking along or while I was on my way.

Both can exist, but yürürken is very common and natural.

• yürürken uses the aorist/habitual stem
  • -ken
• yürüyorken uses the present continuous
  • -ken

In many real Turkish sentences, yürürken is preferred for while walking, especially in narration. It does not necessarily mean a habitual action here; it simply sounds natural in this kind of sentence.

So:

• yürürken = while walking
• yürüyorken = while in the middle of walking

The first one is more common here.

Because Turkish often leaves out subject pronouns when the verb ending already shows who the subject is.

Here:

• işittim = I heard
• anlayamadım = I couldn’t understand / figure out

The -m ending tells you the subject is I, so ben is unnecessary unless you want emphasis.

garip bir ses means a strange sound.

Breakdown:

• garip = strange, odd, weird
• bir = a/an, one
• ses = sound, noise, voice

Here bir works like the English indefinite article a/an. Turkish does not always use bir, but with singular indefinite nouns it is very common.

So:

• garip ses can sound more general or descriptive
• garip bir ses = a strange sound, more natural in this sentence

Almost. Both can mean I heard.

• işittim comes from işitmek
• duydum comes from duymak

For many learners, duymak is the more common everyday verb for to hear. işitmek is also correct, but it can sound a bit more formal, literary, or stylistically chosen depending on context.

So this sentence could also have said:

...garip bir ses duydum...

That would still be natural.

nereden means from where or where ... from.

It is built from:

• nere = where
• -den = from

So:

• nerede = where, in/at where
• nereye = where to
• nereden = where from

In this sentence, nereden geldiğini means where it came from.

Yes, this is one of the most important Turkish patterns to learn.

geldiğini comes from something like the fact that it came or that it came, but in natural English here it becomes where it came from.

A simple breakdown:

• gel- = come
• -diğ- = part of the -DIK subordinate clause pattern
• -i = 3rd person possessive marker
• -ni = accusative ending

So geldiğini is a noun-like clause meaning something like:

• that it came
• its coming

And with nereden, the whole phrase means:

• nereden geldiğini = where it came from

This structure is very common after verbs like:

• bilmek = to know
• anlamak = to understand
• görmek = to see
• duymak = to hear

Because the whole clause nereden geldiğini is the object of anlayamadım.

In other words, what couldn’t I understand?

I couldn’t understand [where it came from].

That whole bracketed part is the direct object, so it takes the accusative.

Very roughly:

• geldiği = that it came / its coming
• geldiğini = that it came (as a specific object)

This is a very normal Turkish pattern.

Because Turkish often leaves things implied if the context is clear.

Here, the thing being talked about is ses = the sound. So when the sentence says:

nereden geldiğini

the understood meaning is:

where it came from

where it refers to the strange sound.

Turkish does this all the time. If the listener can tell what is being referred to, the pronoun is often omitted.

anlayamadım means I couldn’t understand or, in this context, I couldn’t figure out / I couldn’t tell.

Breakdown:

• anla- = understand
• -yama- = negative potential pattern, giving the idea of cannot / be unable to
• -dı = past tense
• -m = I

So:

• anladım = I understood
• anlamadım = I didn’t understand
• anlayamadım = I couldn’t understand / I wasn’t able to understand

That last one fits this sentence best.

Because the meaning is slightly different.

• anlamadım = I did not understand
• anlayamadım = I could not understand / I couldn’t figure out

In this sentence, the speaker is not just saying they failed to understand; they are saying they were unable to determine the source of the sound.

That is why anlayamadım is a better choice here.

Because Turkish usually puts subordinate clauses before the main verb, and the main verb often comes near the end of the sentence.

English:

• I couldn’t understand where it came from.

Turkish:

• [where it came from] I-couldn’t-understand
• nereden geldiğini anlayamadım

This is normal Turkish structure. The important idea to remember is that Turkish often turns whole clauses into noun-like objects and places them before the verb.

Yes. In many contexts, yolda can mean:

• on the road
• on the way
• along the way

In this sentence, Yolda yürürken most naturally suggests something like:

• while I was walking along
• while I was on my way

It does not have to mean the speaker was literally in the middle of a road.