Questions

Turkish forms questions in two ways: yes/no questions with the question particle mi/mı/mu/mü, and open questions with a question word (who, what, where...).

1. Yes/No Questions with mi/mı/mu/mü

The particle is written as a separate word, but it still follows four-way vowel harmony with the last vowel of the word before it: ev mi, kitap mı, okul mu, göz mü.

• Bu bir kitap mı? (Is this a book?)
• Hava soğuk mu? (Is the weather cold?)
• Türk müsün? (Are you Turkish?)

2. Where Do the Personal Endings Go?

This is the tricky part. With most tenses and with nouns/adjectives, the personal ending moves onto the particle (with buffer y where needed: muyum, muyuz). With the past -DI and the conditional -sA, the ending stays on the verb and the particle comes last.

The third-person plural -lAr always stays before the particle: Geliyorlar mı? (Are they coming?)

3. Moving mi for Focus

Place the particle right after the word you are really asking about. At the end of the sentence it questions the whole statement.

• Ali dün İzmir'e gitti mi? (Did Ali go to İzmir yesterday? — neutral)
• Ali dün İzmir'e mi gitti? (Was it to İzmir that Ali went yesterday?)
• Ali İzmir'e dün mü gitti? (Was it yesterday that Ali went to İzmir?)
• Dün İzmir'e Ali mi gitti? (Was it Ali who went to İzmir yesterday?)

Alternative questions repeat the particle: Çay mı istersin, kahve mi? (Would you like tea or coffee?). Negative questions are formed the same way: Gelmiyor musun? (Aren't you coming?), Yorgun değil misin? (Aren't you tired?)

4. Questions with Question Words

Question words go where the answer would go, and the particle mi is not used with them.

• Kim geldi? (Who came?)
• Ne yapıyorsun? (What are you doing?)
• Ne zaman döneceksin? (When will you return?)
• Hangi kitabı okudun? (Which book did you read?)
• Kaç kardeşin var? (How many siblings do you have?)

Yes/no questions usually rise in pitch on the word just before the particle; questions with a question word usually fall at the end.

Common Mistakes

• ✗ Gelirmisin? → ✓ Gelir misin? (the particle is always written separately)
• ✗ Geliyorsun mu? → ✓ Geliyor musun?
• ✗ Geldi misin? → ✓ Geldin mi? (with -DI the ending stays on the verb)
• ✗ Nereye gidiyor musun? → ✓ Nereye gidiyorsun? (no mi with a question word)