Learn Hardcore Turkish: Arabayla giderken otopark bulmak bazen zor oluyor. - When going by car, finding a parking lot is sometimes difficult.

Take the aorist stem of the verb:
- gitmek → gider (aorist: “(someone) goes”).
Add -ken, which means “while / as / when”:
- gider + ken → giderken = while going.

So “arabayla giderken” = “while going by car / when (you) go by car”.

What is the difference between “giderken” and “gittiğimde”? Could I say “Arabayla gittiğimde…” instead?

giderken = “while (I/you/we/one) am going”, focusing on the ongoing action.
gittiğimde = “when I (have) gone / when I go / when I arrive”, more about the moment of reaching or the time that something happens.

In this sentence:

Arabayla giderken otopark bulmak bazen zor oluyor.
→ “Finding parking while you are going (on the way) by car is sometimes difficult.”

If you say:

Arabayla gittiğimde otopark bulmak bazen zor oluyor.
→ “When I go (there) by car, finding parking is sometimes difficult.”

That’s still grammatical, but it shifts the nuance to “when I go (to that place) by car” rather than the general situation “while travelling by car”. The original is more general and habitual.

Why is it “otopark bulmak” (without -ı) and not “otoparkı bulmak”?

In Turkish, a definite direct object takes the accusative suffix (-ı / -i / -u / -ü; with variants), but an indefinite / general object usually does not.

otopark bulmak = to find (some) parking / to find a parking place (in general, non-specific).
otoparkı bulmak = to find *the parking lot* (a specific, known one).

Here, “finding parking” is general, not about one particular, known parking lot, so the bare form “otopark bulmak” is natural.

Why is “otopark bulmak” in the -mak form? What role does it play in the sentence?

The -mak / -mek form is the infinitive (a verbal noun). In this sentence, “otopark bulmak” acts as the subject of the verb “oluyor”:

Otopark bulmak bazen zor oluyor.
→ Finding parking is sometimes difficult.

So the structure is:

[Verb in -mak form]
- zor oluyor
  = “Doing X is difficult.”

Other examples:

Türkçe öğrenmek zor. – Learning Turkish is hard.
Erken kalkmak zor oluyor. – Getting up early is difficult (for me/for us).

Why do we say “zor oluyor” instead of just “zor” or “zordur”?

All of these are possible, but they have different feels:

zor oluyor
- Uses olmak in the -yor form.
- Implies a repeated / current tendency in actual experience:
  - “It ends up being / tends to be difficult (for me/us these days / in our experience).”
- Very common in spoken language.
zor (without a verb; verb “to be” is implied in present tense)
- Otopark bulmak bazen zor.
- Neutral statement: “Finding parking is sometimes difficult.”
- Also correct and natural.
zordur
- -dır / -dir adds formality, generalization, or emphasis.
- Sounds more formal, bookish, or stating a general fact:
  - “Finding parking is sometimes difficult (as a general truth).”

The original “zor oluyor” suggests real-life, repeated experience rather than a cold, general fact.

What exactly does “oluyor” add here? Could the sentence be “Arabayla giderken otopark bulmak bazen zor.”?

Yes, “Arabayla giderken otopark bulmak bazen zor.” is grammatical and natural.

However, “zor oluyor” does two things:

Adds a sense of process / outcome – “it turns out / ends up being difficult.”
Suggests a habitual or recurring situation in real life.

So:

… zor. → Straight description: “It is difficult.”
… zor oluyor. → “It (tends to) be difficult when it happens / in practice it’s difficult.”

In everyday speech, people very often say “zor oluyor” when talking about things that are often or recently difficult for them.

Where can “bazen” go in this sentence? Does its position change the meaning?

Typical positions:

Arabayla giderken otopark bulmak bazen zor oluyor.
Bazen arabayla giderken otopark bulmak zor oluyor.

Both mean basically the same: “Sometimes finding parking while going by car is difficult.”

Nuance:

Bazen near the beginning (Bazen arabayla…) sounds a bit more like you’re foregrounding the time/frequency: “Sometimes, (when) you go by car, finding parking is difficult.”
… bulmak bazen zor oluyor. keeps “sometimes” very close to “difficult”, but in practice the difference is very small.

Word order in Turkish is fairly flexible for adverbs like bazen; the main change is emphasis, not core meaning.

Who is the subject of this sentence? There is no “ben / sen / biz”. How do we know who is “going by car”?

Turkish often drops subject pronouns, especially when the subject is:

obvious from context, or
a generic person (you / one / people in general).

In “Arabayla giderken otopark bulmak bazen zor oluyor.” the implied subject is generic:

“When (you/one/people) go by car, finding parking is sometimes difficult.”
It can also be understood as “we” or “I” depending on context.

There is no personal ending on “giderken” and “oluyor” that pins it to ben / sen / biz, so it stays general. This kind of subjectless, generic statement is very common in Turkish.