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A question about a question
1.       trip
297 posts
 04 Sep 2012 Tue 10:24 am

I am confused about the question below. Why does the "mı" come before the "yaşıyorsunuz"? Why isn´t it: "Siz Londra´da yaşiyor musunuz"?

Siz Londra´da mı yaşıyorsunuz? 

2.       Abla
3648 posts
 04 Sep 2012 Tue 10:38 am

Quote:trip

Siz Londra´da mı yaşıyorsunuz?

 

 

Your suggestion is correct also but the questioner here wants to give emphasis to the place. Just like he wants to say he knows you live somewhere  -  but where, that is the issue. The question particle mI can be used for questioning a constituent as well as a whole sentence. Look here also:

 

                     http://www.turkishclass.com/forumTitle_51637, post 7 by si++

Hend Yehya and caliptrix liked this message
3.       trip
297 posts
 04 Sep 2012 Tue 10:58 am

This makes sense. I just had not seen this in any of my lessons yet. ... Thank you, Abla.

4.       caliptrix
3055 posts
 04 Sep 2012 Tue 11:41 am

Addition to Abla´s post;

If you say "Siz Londra´da yaşıyor musunuz?" that may sound funny or weird because it is like asking:

"The action you do in London is "to live", right? You are not dying or doing anything in London, correct?"

The reason is that "mı" suffix comes after the word you would emphasize.

Gidiyor musun? Are you leaving? (or maybe you are not leaving you will just step outside to get some fresh air and you will come back some minutes later? etc.. asking the action)

Dışarı mı gidiyorsun? Are you going outside? (or maybe you are going another place not outside?.. asking the place where the person goes. but the fact is the person goes. you are not asking if he goes or not)

Dışarı, hava almaya mı gidiyorsun? Are you going out to get fresh air? (asking the reason of going out is "to get fresh air" or not. the question is not about "going out" because it is not obscure, that is clear he is going out. but the unknown part is the reason)

 

So the emphasize (the real question) is on the word before "mı" suffix in the question sentences.

5.       trip
297 posts
 04 Sep 2012 Tue 09:48 pm

Thank you! This makes it even clearer. But the lessons so far on the site have not made this point at all (I am starting Beginner, Section 3). Which makes it hard to do the exercises. I think I have come across two questions now that use this construction, but I thought it was wrong because I had not seen it mentioned in the lessons. ... Confusing for a beginner. ... Nevertheless, thank you to you both. I will now recognize what is going on here.

6.       Abla
3648 posts
 04 Sep 2012 Tue 09:57 pm

The lessons only give you a start. Real learning begins after the lessons and it has no end.

caliptrix liked this message
7.       Hend Yehya
38 posts
 05 Sep 2012 Wed 12:24 pm

Abla, this is the same question i´ve asked you in my exercise that you evaluated to me remember

8.       Abla
3648 posts
 05 Sep 2012 Wed 01:16 pm

Yes dear. And I told you it is always better to ask in the forum. You get better answers from natives and more people will benefit. Remember?

9.       Hend Yehya
38 posts
 05 Sep 2012 Wed 03:33 pm

yes i do, since that i´m reading every entry in the forums. Abla you rock

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