A1 · The simple sentence · about 7 minutes
The question particle “mi”
yes–no questions
A yes–no question needs a little word with four forms, written separately.
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“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need2
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- TürkTurk; Turkish
- müsaitfree, available
Understand
Remembermi is written separately, sounds like the word before it and carries the person ending.
- Signal words
- mi
- mı
- mu
- mü
- evet
- hayır
The form
How the forms are built
Each row gives the meaning first, then the form in Turkish. The colours show what changes from one form to the next.
stem (regular) person ending question marker
| am I tired? | (ben) yorgun muyum? |
| are you tired? | (sen) yorgun musun? |
| is he, she tired? | (o) yorgun mu? |
| are we tired? | (biz) yorgun muyuz? |
| are you tired? (plural, polite) | (siz) yorgun musunuz? |
| are they tired? | (onlar) yorgunlar mı? |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
mi is written separately and follows four-way vowel harmony.
Kahve sıcak mı?Is the coffee hot?
The person ending attaches to mi.
Sen öğrenci misin?Are you a student?
At the end of the sentence mi asks about the whole sentence.
Ayşe bugün geliyor mu?Is Ayşe coming today?
After a word, mi asks about that word.
Ayşe mi geliyor?Is it Ayşe who is coming?
The answer is evet (yes) or hayır (no).
Evde misin? — Evet, evdeyim.Are you at home? — Yes, I am at home.
Example sentences
Türk müsün?Are you Turkish?
Siz Almanya'dan mısınız?Are you from Germany?
Yarın müsait misin?Are you free tomorrow?
6 more example sentences
Bu otobüs Taksim'e gidiyor mu?Does this bus go to Taksim?
Çocuklar uyuyor mu?Are the children asleep?
Yorgun musun?Are you tired?
Kahve mi istiyorsun, çay mı?Would you like coffee or tea?
Öğretmen misiniz?Are you a teacher?
Mehmet evde mi?Is Mehmet at home?
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
Because mi is unstressed and sounds like an ending, it tends to get written onto the word before it. But it is a word of its own. The person ending, on the other hand, attaches to mi, not to the noun.
Quick check
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Practise
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Next on the path: 29 · My, your, his as an endingBack to the learning path
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
In Turkish a yes–no question has the same word order as the statement. There is no “do”, no “is she …?” — just one word with no meaning of its own is added: mi. Ayşe evde “Ayşe is at home” → Ayşe evde mi? “Is Ayşe at home?”
mi is written as a separate word, but it follows the four-way vowel harmony of the word before it: mi, mı, mü, mu. The stress falls on the syllable before it.
With “to be” the person ending moves onto mi: Yorgun musun?“Are you tired?”Öğretmen misiniz?“Are you a teacher?” The same with the present in -iyor: Geliyor musun? “Are you coming?” Only the -ler of the third person plural stays in front: Yorgunlar mı?
mi goes after the word you are asking about. At the end of the sentence it asks about the whole sentence; in the middle it asks about the one word before it: Ayşe mi geliyor? “Is it Ayşe who is coming?”
A closer look
Where the person ending goes
With “to be” and with the present in -iyor, the person ending moves onto mi: yorgun musun, geliyor musun. With the past in -di it stays on the verb, and mi comes after it: geldin mi? “Did you come?” You will learn that with the past; for now the first rule is enough.
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
Compared with English
English turns a statement into a question by bringing the verb forward or adding “do”: “You are tired” → “Are you tired?”, “You live here” → “Do you live here?”. Turkish leaves everything where it is and adds mi. It is a bit like a tag “…, right?” — except that it comes right after the word being asked about.
Yorgunsun. Yorgun musun?You are tired. Are you tired?
Worth knowing
Yes and no
evetis “yes”hayır“no” In everyday speech people often just answer with the word that was asked: Yorgun musun? — Yorgunum. To a negative question you answer evet if you agree with the negative — where English would say “no”.
Aç değil misin? — Evet, aç değilim.Aren’t you hungry? — No, I’m not.
The verbs on this page, in every form: gelmek · gitmek · uyumak