Soru sözcükleri — question words
Turkish builds questions in two distinct ways depending on what kind of question it is. For information questions ('who?', 'what?'), you just stick a question word into the sentence — no inversion, no auxiliary, no special intonation needed. For yes/no questions, you add the little particle mı/mi/mu/mü that you met in lesson 5. Today we'll meet the seven core question words: kim (who), ne (what), nerede (where), ne zaman (when), neden / niçin (why), nasıl (how), kaç (how many).
The seven question words
kim = who. Bu kim? = 'Who is this?'. ne = what. Bu ne? = 'What is this?'. nerede = where (notice the locative -de baked in: 'where = at-where'). Mehmet nerede? = 'Where is Mehmet?'. ne zaman = when (literally 'what time'). Ne zaman? = 'When?'. neden or niçin = why. Neden? = 'Why?'. nasıl = how. Nasılsın? = 'How are you?'. kaç = how many / how much. Kaç çocuk? = 'How many children?'.
Word order with question words
The question word usually goes where the answer would go. Bu kim? → Bu Mehmet (this is Mehmet). Mehmet nerede? → Mehmet evde (Mehmet is at home). Kaç kitap var? → Üç kitap var (there are three books). Note that kaç is followed by a SINGULAR noun — the same rule as numbers (lesson 4).
Yes/no questions: ...mı / mi / mu / mü
Add the question particle as a separate word, harmonized to the previous vowel. Sen Türk müsün? = 'Are you Turkish?' (last vowel ü → mü, plus the personal ending -sün). Çay var mı? = 'Is there tea?'. Bu ev mi? = 'Is this a house?'. O doktor mu? = 'Is he a doctor?'. The particle stays a separate word in writing but is pronounced as if attached. Personal endings, when present, attach to the particle: Türk müsün?, doktor musunuz?.
Asking 'How are you?'
Nasılsın? = how-are-you (informal). Built from nasıl + -sın ('you-are'). Nasılsınız? = how-are-you (formal/plural). Standard answers: İyiyim = I'm good (iyi + -y- + -im). Çok iyiyim = I'm very good. Fena değil = not bad (fena = bad, değil = not). Sen? / Ya sen? = and you?
Common short questions
Adın ne? = 'What's your name?' (your-name what?). Nerelisin? = 'Where are you from?' (where-from-are-you). Kaç yaşındasın? = 'How old are you?' (how-many years-at-you?). Saat kaç? = 'What time is it?' (literally 'hour how-many?'). Don't worry about all the suffixes yet — just learn the phrases as fixed.
