Ben marulu küçük küçük doğrayıp salataya ekliyorum.

That’s right: Turkish often drops subject pronouns because the verb ending already shows who is doing the action.

• ekliyorum = I am adding / I add
• The -um ending already tells us the subject is I

So Ben marulu küçük küçük doğrayıp salataya ekliyorum and Marulu küçük küçük doğrayıp salataya ekliyorum can both mean the same thing.

Including ben usually adds a bit of emphasis or contrast, like:

• I’m the one who chops the lettuce and adds it to the salad.
• As for me, I chop the lettuce finely and add it to the salad.

Because marulu is the definite direct object form of marul (lettuce).

Turkish often marks a specific direct object with the accusative case. Here:

• marul = lettuce
• marulu = the lettuce

So the sentence is talking about a specific lettuce / the lettuce, not lettuce in a general sense.

Compare:

• Marul doğruyorum = I’m chopping lettuce.
• Marulu doğruyorum = I’m chopping the lettuce.

The -u is the accusative ending here.

This is because of vowel harmony.

The accusative in Turkish has four possible forms:

• -ı
• -i
• -u
• -ü

Which one you use depends on the last vowel of the noun.

In marul, the last vowel is u, so the accusative becomes -u:

• marul → marulu

That’s why it is marulu, not maruli or marulü.

Repeating küçük gives a natural Turkish way to express how something is done: in small pieces, little by little, or finely/small-small.

So:

• küçük küçük doğramak = to chop into small pieces

This kind of repetition is very common in Turkish and often gives an adverb-like meaning.

Similar patterns:

• yavaş yavaş = slowly, little by little
• tek tek = one by one
• ince ince = very finely / into thin pieces

So küçük küçük here does not mean two separate smalls. It means the lettuce is being chopped into small bits.

Doğrayıp is not a tense form by itself. It is a verb form that connects actions, roughly meaning:

• chopping ... and
• after chopping ...
• by chopping ...

It comes from the verb doğramak (to chop) plus the connector suffix -(y)ıp / -(y)ip / -(y)up / -(y)üp.

Here:

• doğra- = chop
• -yıp = linking suffix
• doğrayıp = having chopped / chopping and

So:

• marulu küçük küçük doğrayıp salataya ekliyorum = I chop the lettuce into small pieces and add it to the salad.

The y is a buffer consonant.

The verb stem here ends in a vowel:

• doğra-

When Turkish adds a suffix beginning with a vowel-like sound in this pattern, it often inserts y to make pronunciation smoother:

• doğra + ıp → doğrayıp

This happens in many Turkish forms. The y is not part of the dictionary form of the verb; it is just there to link sounds naturally.

Because -(y)ıp is a very common and natural way in Turkish to link two actions done by the same subject.

So:

• doğrayıp ekliyorum = I chop and add
• doğruyorum ve ekliyorum = I am chopping and I am adding

Both are possible, but -(y)ıp often sounds more compact and more natural in everyday Turkish when one person does both actions in sequence.

A useful rule:

• Use -(y)ıp when the same subject does both actions.
• It often corresponds to English and, after, or by depending on context.

Salataya is the noun salata (salad) in the dative case, which often means:

• to
• into
• toward

Here:

• salata = salad
• salataya = to/into the salad

So salataya ekliyorum means I add it to the salad.

The y appears because salata ends in a vowel, and Turkish uses a buffer y before the dative ending:

• salata + a → salataya

Ekliyorum comes from the verb eklemek, which here means to add.

It breaks down like this:

• ekle- = add
• -iyor = present continuous
• -um = I

So:

• ekliyorum = I am adding / I add

The -iyor part is the common Turkish present continuous marker, though its vowel changes according to vowel harmony in other verbs.

It can mean either, depending on context.

The Turkish present continuous form often covers meanings that English splits into two:

• I am adding
• I add

In a cooking context, this sentence could mean:

• what I am doing right now
• or a regular step in a recipe / routine

So both of these are possible translations depending on the situation:

• I’m chopping the lettuce into small pieces and adding it to the salad.
• I chop the lettuce into small pieces and add it to the salad.

Turkish usually puts the main verb at the end of the sentence.

So the structure here is roughly:

• Ben = I
• marulu = the lettuce
• küçük küçük = into small pieces / finely
• doğrayıp = chopping and
• salataya = to the salad
• ekliyorum = I add / am adding

A very literal English-style order would be something like:

• I the lettuce into small pieces chopping to the salad am adding.

Of course that sounds strange in English, but it shows the Turkish pattern.

Turkish word order is somewhat flexible, but the final verb is very common and natural.

Semantically, it is understood as the thing that gets both chopped and then added.

So the meaning is:

• I chop the lettuce into small pieces and add it to the salad.

Turkish does not need to repeat the object if it is already clear. English often would use it, but Turkish can simply leave it understood.

So the sentence does not need to say something like onu salataya ekliyorum unless the speaker wants extra emphasis or clarity.

Yes, absolutely.

You can say:

• Marulu küçük küçük doğrayıp salataya ekliyorum.

This is still a complete and natural sentence, because ekliyorum already shows the subject is I.

Including ben is optional here and usually adds emphasis, contrast, or clarity.