Ben parkta şapka takıyorum.

I am wearing a hat in the park.

Breakdown of Ben parkta şapka takıyorum.

• ben: I
• park: the park
• takmak: to wear
• -ta: in
• şapka: the hat

Questions & Answers about Ben parkta şapka takıyorum.

Why do we include ben when the verb takıyorum already shows 1st person?

Although Turkish verbs carry person endings, learners often add the subject pronoun for clarity or emphasis. You can drop ben and say:
Parkta şapka takıyorum
Adding ben simply stresses that I (as opposed to someone else) am wearing a hat in the park.

Why is park followed by -ta (parkta) rather than -da or -de?

This is the locative case ending meaning “at/in.” Two phonological rules govern its form:
• Vowel Harmony: It matches the noun’s last vowel. Park has a back vowel (a), so we choose -da, not -de.
• Consonant Assimilation: After a voiceless consonant like k, the d in -da becomes t.
So park + da → parkta (“in/at the park”).

Why doesn’t şapka take an -ı (accusative) suffix?

Turkish marks definite direct objects with -ı/ -i/ -u/ -ü, but indefinite objects remain unmarked. Here şapka means a hat (indefinite), so no suffix is added. If you meant the hat, you would say:
Parkta şapkayı takıyorum

What role does the -yor in takıyorum play?

The -yor suffix signals the present continuous tense, indicating an ongoing action. Thus takıyorum means I am wearing. If you wanted to express a habitual action (“I wear hats in the park”), you’d use the aorist:
Parkta şapka takarım

Why is there a y in takıyorum?

Because the continuous suffix -ıyor starts with a vowel, Turkish inserts a buffer consonant y to avoid two vowels in a row. The formation is:
tak + ıyor → takıyor
Then add -um for 1st person → takıyorum

Why do we say şapka takmak instead of şapka giymek?

In Turkish:
• Giymek is used for garments you wear on the body (shirts, pants, coats).
• Takmak is used for accessories or items you attach/put on (hats, glasses, jewelry).
Hence you şapka takarsınız, gözlük takarsınız, küpe takarsınız, etc.

Is the word order in Ben parkta şapka takıyorum fixed?

Turkish typically follows Subject – Locative – Object – Verb (S-Loc-O-V). So:
Ben (S) parkta (Loc) şapka (O) takıyorum (V)
You can rearrange elements for emphasis, but the verb almost always appears at the end.

How would I say I’m not wearing a hat in the park?

Insert the negative suffix -ma before the tense marker:
tak + ma + ıyor + um → takmıyorum
So you get:
Ben parkta şapka takmıyorum
Or simply:
Parkta şapka takmıyorum