Ben tatil planı yapıyorum.

I am making a holiday plan.

Breakdown of Ben tatil planı yapıyorum.

• ben: I
• yapmak: to make
• plan: the plan
• tatil: the holiday

Questions & Answers about Ben tatil planı yapıyorum.

Do I have to include Ben at the start of the sentence?

No. Turkish is a pro-drop language, which means subject pronouns like Ben (I) are optional when the verb ending already tells you who is acting. So both
Tatil planı yapıyorum.
and
Ben tatil planı yapıyorum.
mean “I am making holiday plans.”

Why does planı end with -ı? Can’t I just say plan?

In Turkish, definite direct objects take the accusative case. The suffix -ı (here harmonizing to the back vowel) marks plan as a specific thing you’re making. So plan → planı. If you wanted an indefinite sense, you could say bir tatil planı (a holiday plan), but you still get -ı on planı because it’s definite within the phrase.

How do you form the present-continuous tense yapıyorum?

Break it down into three parts:

1. The verb root yap- (do/make)
2. The progressive suffix -ıyor (with a buffer vowel ı because yap ends in a consonant, and vowel harmony gives yapıyor)
3. The first-person ending -um (harmonizing to u → yapıyorum)
   So yap- + ı-yor + ‑um → yapıyorum = “I am doing/making.”

Why is the word order Ben tatil planı yapıyorum and not like English I am planning holiday?

Turkish normally follows Subject-Object-Verb (SOV) order. Here:
Subject = Ben
Object = tatil planı
Verb = yapıyorum
Putting the verb at the end is the default, unlike English’s Subject-Verb-Object pattern.

What exactly is tatil planı? Is tatil in a special case here?

Tatil planı is a noun-noun compound meaning “holiday plan.” The first noun tatil (vacation/holiday) directly modifies the second noun plan, without any linking suffix. The second noun planı then takes the accusative -ı because it’s the object of yapıyorum.

Could I use planlamak instead of planı yapmak? For example, Tatil planlıyorum?

Grammatically, planlamak (to plan) exists as a loanword, so you could say Tatil planlıyorum or Tatil’i planlıyorum with the accusative. In everyday speech, however, native speakers usually prefer tatil planı yapmak (“to make a holiday plan”), which sounds more idiomatic.

Why is the present-continuous yapıyorum used here instead of the simple present yaparım?

Turkish uses the aorist (simple present) -ar/-er to express habitual actions, general truths, or future events (“I usually plan holidays,” “I will plan”). To talk about what you are doing right now—“I am planning holiday”—you need the present-continuous -ıyor. So yaparım would mean “I make [plans] habitually,” whereas yapıyorum means “I am making [plans] at this moment.”