Can somebody explain the meaning of "diye" in the following sentence?

"Neden havlıyorsun?" diye ona sordum.

Thanks!

So the translation of:
"Why were you barking?" I asked her.

would be:
"Neden havlıyorsun?" ona sordum.

Is that right???

"Neden havlıyorsun?" diye ona sordum

I was under the impression that "diye" was used in quotations, but didn't have any meaning when used in that context. Although, I can see it being loosely translated the way damla translated it above. However, in other contexts it does have meaning, as it can be: because, so that, thinking that etc.

"Why are you barking?" I asked (her).

"Neden havlıyordun?" ona sordum.
isn't used.if you use it without "diye", it doesn't sound good.

Here,diye is a connecting word between the quotated sentence (or word) and our real sentence.

diye: 1)saying, thinking that;
I asked her saying that, "Why were you barking?"
-Ona "Neden havlıyordun?" diye sordum.
-"Neden havlıyordun?" diye ona sordum.

Or if you don't want to use "diye":
- Ona, neden havladığını sordum.

Or if you insist on not using "diye",it can be:
Ona sordum: "Neden havlıyordun?"

And furthermore, you don't need to put quotation marks, because "diye" makes it clear.
Ben ne hata yaptım diye düşÃ¼nüyorum.
I'm thinking "what have I done wrong?"

Ne hata yaptığımı düşÃ¼nüyorum.
I'm thinking about what I have done wrong.

You can make a search on google with these, and you'll see a lot examples: "diye düşÃ¼nüyorum", "diye düşÃ¼ndüm","diye dedim", "diye söyledim", "diye sordum", "diye anlattı"


Also "diye" can mean:

2)called, named; 3)so that
But it's another lesson

And there I see the light again!

Thanks a lot for the explanation!!

I don't know about Miss_C, but for me this will do for a while

Thanks Meltem