Questions & Answers about Evrende yeni bir hayat bulurduk.
How does "bulurduk" translate to "we would find"?
The verb bulmak (to find) has two tense suffixes here: the aorist -ur and the past tense -du, followed by the "we" ending -k. When you combine the aorist and past tenses, it creates a meaning of "would do" something in a hypothetical situation, or "used to do" something as a past habit. Here, "would find" fits the hypothetical meaning.
Why is the word order "yeni bir hayat" instead of "bir yeni hayat"?
I learned that verbs with one syllable usually take "-ar" or "-er" in the aorist tense. Why is it "bulur" and not "bular"?
You are right that most one-syllable verbs take -ar or -er. However, there are exactly 13 common one-syllable verbs that break this rule and take the high vowel endings (-ır, -ir, -ur, -ür). The verb bulmak is one of these exceptions, so it becomes bulur.
Could "bulurduk" also mean "we used to find"?
Yes! The combination of the aorist and past tense (-urduk) is also used for past habits, translating to "we used to find." You have to rely on context to know if the speaker means a past habit or a hypothetical "would." The phrase "in the universe" makes a hypothetical situation more likely here.