Var / yok — existence and possession
Turkish has no verb for 'to have'. Instead it uses two tiny words: var = 'there exists' / 'there is', and its opposite yok = 'there does not exist' / 'there isn't'. Both go at the end of the sentence. Çay var = 'There is tea'. Çay yok = 'There is no tea'. To say 'I have', you make the thing 'mine' with a possessive ending, then add var: Kedim var = 'My-cat exists' = 'I have a cat'. To make a yes/no question, add the particle mı/mi/mu/mü: Çay var mı? = 'Is there tea?'.
Existence: var and yok
Var simply asserts existence: Para var = 'There's money'. Sorun var = 'There's a problem'. Yok is the negation: Para yok = 'There's no money'. Sorun yok = 'No problem'. The word order is: [thing] + [location, optional] + var / yok. Masada kitap var = 'There is a book on the table' (we'll cover the -da locative ending in lesson 7).
Possession: Kedim var
Turkish builds 'I have X' as 'My X exists'. Step 1: stick a possessive ending on the noun. Kedi (cat) + -m (my) = kedim (my cat). Step 2: add var. Kedim var = 'I have a cat'. Same pattern for other persons: Kedin var = 'You have a cat' (your cat exists). Kedisi var = 'He/she has a cat'. Kedimiz var = 'We have a cat'. The negative just swaps var for yok: Param yok = 'I have no money'.
First-person possessive endings
We'll only learn 'my' today. The ending is -m if the noun ends in a vowel: kedi → kedim, araba → arabam. It's -ım/-im/-um/-üm (four-way harmony) if the noun ends in a consonant: kitap → kitabım (note: p softens to b before a vowel), ev → evim, kol → kolum, göz → gözüm. Don't worry about consonant softening yet — pick it up by example.
Yes/no questions: the mı particle
Turkish makes yes/no questions with a separate little word mı/mi/mu/mü that follows four-way harmony with the previous word. Written as a separate word, but pronounced as part of it. Çay var mı? = 'Is there tea?' (last vowel a → mı). Kedi var mı? = 'Is there a cat?' (i → mi). Su var mı? (water — u → mu). Sorun yok mu? (o → mu). The mı sticks to whatever it's questioning.
Answers and short forms
Evet, var = 'Yes, there is'. Hayır, yok = 'No, there isn't'. Sorun yok is also the standard 'no problem!'. Bir şey yok = 'It's nothing / no worries'. To compliment someone's response: Süper! or Harika!. To say 'I have it / It's mine': Bende (literally 'on me / at me') — but that's lesson 7's locative.
