Breakdown of Gelecek hafta toplantı yapıyoruz.
yapmak
to do / to make
gelecek
next
hafta
week
toplantı
meeting
Questions & Answers about Gelecek hafta toplantı yapıyoruz.
Why are we using yapıyoruz (we are doing) instead of a future tense if the sentence is about next week?
Just like in English ('We are having a meeting next week'), Turkish often uses the present continuous tense (the -iyor ending) to talk about fixed plans in the future. The phrase gelecek hafta (next week) makes it clear that this is a future plan.
Why do we use yapıyoruz (we are making/doing) for a meeting instead of a word for 'having'?
In Turkish, you don't 'have' a meeting, you 'make' or 'do' it. The verb yapmak (to do/make) is paired with toplantı (meeting) to create the common phrase toplantı yapmak (to hold or have a meeting).
There is no word for 'a' in the Turkish sentence. How do we know it means 'a meeting'?
In Turkish, if a noun is a general object of a verb, we usually leave out the word bir (a/an). Because toplantı is placed directly in front of the verb without any special endings, it acts as a general activity (literally 'meeting-making') rather than focusing on one specific meeting.
Why does yapmak become yapıyoruz with an 'ı' instead of an 'i'?
This is due to vowel harmony. The verb root is yap-. Because the vowel is 'a', the present continuous suffix needs an undotted 'ı', making it -ıyor. Then we add the 'we' personal ending -uz, resulting in yapıyoruz.