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1.       bexy26
111 posts
 26 Jan 2007 Fri 04:10 pm

Merhaba! Bana yardım edebilir misiniz lütfen?

I am confused about how to ask yes or no questions in Turkish. I used to think that the question tag "mi" (or mı, mu, mü) always comes at the very end of the sentence, like burayı sevidiniz mi? (did you like it here?). But I often see it in front of the personal suffix, like bana yardım edebilir misiniz? (can you help me?). I have even seen it in the middle of the sentence: bana mı dedin?, but I am not sure if that is correct.

How do I know where to put mi/mu etc. in the sentence when I want to ask a yes/no question?? Are there any rules that I should follow?

Any help is appreciated
Teşekkür ederim!!

Bex

2.       azade
1606 posts
 26 Jan 2007 Fri 07:36 pm

Usually you put it at the end of the sentence, but if you want to stress a certain word in the sentence you can put 'mi' directly after the word you want to stress.

Here's an example with the sentence "Bana ayran getiriyor musun?" (are you bring me an ayran?)
Bana ayran mı getiriyorsun? - Are you bringing me AYRAN? (is it ayran specifically?)
Bana mı ayran getiriyorsun? - Are you bringing ayran for ME? (is it specifically for me?)

You can do the same with 'de'

3.       caliptrix
3055 posts
 26 Jan 2007 Fri 08:18 pm

I think azade gave a good example.

Here is one more:

Dün Ahmet İstanbul'a uçakla gitti mi? "did Ahmet go?" (instead of telling whole sentence, this is enough: "Ahmet gitti mi?")

Dün Ahmet İstanbul'a uçakla mı gitti? "did he go by plane?"

Dün Ahmet İstanbul'a mı uçakla gitti? "did he go to Istanbul?"

Dün Ahmet mi İstanbul'a uçakla gitti? "was he Ahmet?"

Ahmet İstanbul'a uçakla dün mü gitti? "did he go yesterday?"

Word group's order can be also changed.

4.       juliacernat
424 posts
 28 Jan 2007 Sun 07:37 pm

Annem beni cagriyor mu?- Is my mother calling me?
ANNEM mi beni cagriyor?- Is MY MOTHER calling me? (meaning is it my mother the one who is calling me?)
Annem BENI mi cagriyor? - Is my mother calling ME? (meaning is it me the one one my mother is calling?)

Ayse bir kiptap istiyor mu? (Does Ayse want a book?)
Ayse bir kitap mi istiyor? (Is it a book that Ayse wants?)


and here it is another type of eg using the interrogative "-mi":
Dersler ne zaman baslayacaklar?- When do the courses start?
Eylul'de mi, ekim' de mi? (do they start) in September or in October?

5.       gezbelle
1542 posts
 29 Jan 2007 Mon 01:12 am

in "-iyor" (present tense) sentences, the personal endings come after the "mi" question marker.

for example:
çalışıyor muyum? - do i work?
çalışıyor musun? - do you work?
çalışıyor mu? - does he/she work?
çalışıyor muyuz? - do we work?
çalışıyor musunuz? - do you work? (plural)

however, there is 1 exception:
çalışıyorlar mı? - do they work

in "-di" (past tense) sentences, the personal endings come before the "mi" question marker.

for example:
çalıştım mı? - did i work?
çalıştın mı? - did you work?
çalıştı mı? - did he/she work?
çalıştık mı? - did we work?
çalıştınız mı? - did you work? (plural)
çalıştılar mı? - did they work?

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