Learn Hardcore Turkish: Cuma akşamları ise daha rahat ve neşeli oluyorum. - On Friday evenings, however, I am more relaxed and cheerful.

attaches to the previous word (Cuma akşamları ise = “as for Friday evenings”)
marks a contrast with what was said before (e.g. other days of the week)

You could say the previous sentence was something like:
Hafta içi çok yorgun oluyorum. Cuma akşamları ise daha rahat ve neşeli oluyorum.
= “On weekdays I’m very tired. But as for Friday evenings, I’m more relaxed and cheerful.”

It’s softer and more “topic‑marking” than ama (“but”), and more explicit about “as for X…”.

Can I just drop ise? What changes if I say Cuma akşamları daha rahat ve neşeli oluyorum?

Yes, you can drop ise. The sentence:

Cuma akşamları daha rahat ve neşeli oluyorum.

is perfectly correct and means essentially the same thing.

The difference:

with ise: you clearly mark a contrast or a new “topic”: as for Friday evenings…
without ise: it’s a simple statement: On Friday evenings I’m more relaxed and cheerful, without strongly highlighting the contrast.

If the previous context already makes the contrast obvious, Turks often omit ise.

Why is it Cuma akşamları (plural) and not Cuma akşamı?

Cuma akşamları literally means “Friday evenings” in general; it implies a repeated, habitual time:

Cuma akşamları → on Friday evenings (in general / every Friday evening)
Cuma akşamı → Friday evening (one specific Friday evening)

So:

Cuma akşamı dışarı çıkacağım.
“I’ll go out on Friday evening.” (this coming Friday)
Cuma akşamları dışarı çıkarım.
“I (usually) go out on Friday evenings.” (habit)

In your sentence, the speaker is talking about a regular pattern, so akşamları (plural + this “habitual” sense) is used.

What is the ending -ları doing in akşamları? Why not just akşamlar?

Akşamları is akşam + lar + ı:

akşam = evening
-lar = plural → akşamlar = evenings
-ı (accusative) → akşamları

With time words, -ları / -leri is commonly used to mean “in the …s / on …s (habitually)”:

akşamları – in the evenings
sabahları – in the mornings
hafta sonları – on weekends
pazartesileri – on Mondays

So Cuma akşamları = (on) Friday evenings (habitually), not just a bare plural “Friday evenings” like a list.

You won’t normally say Cuma akşamlar; the -ı is part of this fixed adverbial pattern.

Could I say Cuma akşamında instead? What’s the difference between Cuma akşamları and Cuma akşamında?

You can say Cuma akşamında, but the meaning changes:

Cuma akşamında (locative -da)
→ on one specific Friday evening, or one specific Friday in context.
“(On) Friday evening (that particular Friday)…”
Cuma akşamları
→ every / usually Friday evening, a repeated situation.
“(On) Friday evenings (in general)…”

Your sentence is about a regular pattern of how you usually feel, so Cuma akşamları is the natural choice.

What tense is oluyorum, and how is it formed?

Oluyorum is the present continuous tense of olmak (“to be / to become”).

Formation:

root: ol-
present continuous suffix: -uyor (from -(I)yor, with vowel harmony)
personal ending: -um (1st person singular)

So: ol- + uyor + um → oluyorum

Meaning: “I am (becoming)”, “I get”, “I become”, or in many contexts just “I am (currently / usually in that state)”.

In your sentence it can be understood as something like “I (tend to) become / feel more relaxed and cheerful.”

Why use oluyorum instead of just saying daha rahat ve neşeliyim?

Both are possible, but they feel slightly different:

Daha rahat ve neşeliyim.
→ “I am more relaxed and cheerful.”
Stresses your state as a fact.
Daha rahat ve neşeli oluyorum.
→ “I (tend to) become / am getting more relaxed and cheerful.”
Suggests a change of state or a typical process: you end up in that mood on Friday evenings.

In a sentence about how you tend to feel at that time, Turkish very naturally uses olmak:

Akşamları yorgun oluyorum. – I (usually) get tired in the evenings.
Tatil günlerinde mutlu oluyorum. – I’m (usually) happy on holidays.

So oluyorum nicely captures that “that’s how I (end up) feeling then.”

What’s the difference between oluyorum and olurum here?

Both are correct but have different nuances:

oluyorum → present continuous (-yor)
Often used for:
- what is happening now
- typical patterns / repeated situations in spoken Turkish
olurum → aorist (-r)
Often used for:
- general truths, regular habits, rules
- somewhat more formal / neutral descriptions

So:

Cuma akşamları daha rahat ve neşeli oluyorum.
Sounds like natural, conversational description of what usually happens.
Cuma akşamları daha rahat ve neşeli olurum.
Feels a bit more “timeless rule” or slightly more formal: I tend to be more relaxed and cheerful on Friday evenings.

Both express a habitual pattern; in everyday speech oluyorum is extremely common for this.

Why is the time expression Cuma akşamları ise at the beginning? Can I move it?

You can move it, but the emphasis changes. Turkish often starts with:

time or topic → comment about it

So:

Cuma akşamları ise daha rahat ve neşeli oluyorum.
→ “As for Friday evenings, I’m more relaxed and cheerful.”
Puts Friday evenings as the topic, probably in contrast to some other time.

Possible alternatives:

Daha rahat ve neşeli oluyorum Cuma akşamları.
→ Grammatically okay; focuses more on being relaxed and cheerful, with “on Friday evenings” added afterward.
Ben Cuma akşamları daha rahat ve neşeli oluyorum.
→ Places light emphasis on ben (“I”).

The original word order is the most natural when contrasting different times.

Why is there no word for “on” (as in “on Friday evenings”)?

Turkish usually doesn’t use a separate preposition like “on” for days/times. Instead, it uses:

case endings (like -da / -de for “in, at, on”),
or special adverbial forms like akşamları, sabahları.

Examples:

Cuma günü – on Friday
Cuma akşamı – on Friday evening (specific)
Cuma akşamında – on (that) Friday evening
Cuma akşamları – on Friday evenings (in general)

So the meaning of “on” is built into the form of the noun, rather than a separate word.

Does daha here mean “more”, and does it affect both rahat and neşeli?

Yes. Daha means “more” and here it applies to both adjectives:

daha rahat ve neşeli ≈ “more relaxed and (more) cheerful”

In Turkish, a single daha before the first adjective can cover both adjectives joined by ve:

daha zengin ve ünlü – richer and more famous
daha hızlı ve dikkatli – faster and more careful

You can repeat it:

daha rahat ve daha neşeli – “more relaxed and more cheerful”
This may sound a bit more emphatic or carefully enumerated.

But the version with a single daha is very natural and common.

Could rahat here also mean “comfortable”, or is it only “relaxed”?

Rahat can mean:

physically comfortable (a comfortable chair → rahat sandalye)
mentally/emotionally relaxed, at ease

In your sentence about how you feel on Friday evenings, rahat is best understood as:

“relaxed, at ease, not stressed”

So the phrase describes your emotional / mental state more than physical comfort, although in context both often go together.

Is there any difference between neşeli and just “happy”?

Neşeli overlaps with “happy,” but its core meaning is closer to:

“cheerful, lively, in high spirits”

Subtleties:

mutlu → happy in a deeper, more general sense (content, fulfilled)
neşeli → cheerful, bubbly, upbeat in mood

So daha rahat ve neşeli oluyorum suggests you feel more:

relaxed
cheerful / in a good mood, perhaps more talkative or sociable

rather than making a strong claim about long-term happiness.

Is ise always written separately, or can it attach to the previous word?

In standard modern Turkish orthography, ise is usually written as a separate word:

Cuma akşamları ise…
Ben ise…

However, historically and in some other uses, its reduced form -se / -sa can attach directly:

Oysa – “however, yet”
Yoksa – “otherwise”

You might also see it attached in older texts or informal writing (e.g., benise, bense), but for learners the safe rule is:

write ise as a separate word after the element you’re contrasting:
X ise … = “as for X, … / whereas X, …”