For this post, I would like to review something important that I learned before with my language partner, Hazal, since we did not have more regular meetings due to the COVID-19. Asking questions is of great importance in daily conversations. Also, I always have trouble remembering the "wh-" words in Turkish. So I think this is a good opportunity to strengthen my memory.
Grammar Tips:
In Turkish there are several ways of asking a question:
1. Wh Questions:
In Turkish this kind of questions start with different question words. For example:
Who: Kim What: Ne When: Ne zaman Why: Niçin, Neden
Where: Nereye, nerede, nereden
“Kim gelecek?” means Who will come?
“Ne dedin?” means What did you say?
“Ne zaman geldiniz?” means When did you come?
“ Neden gelmedin?” means Why didn’t you come?
“Nereye gideceğiz?” means Where will we go?
2. Yes / No Questions
This kind of questions are constructed using “-mı, -mi, -mu, -mü” at the end of the sentences.
Examples:
O gelecek mi? means Will he/she come?
O yaptı mı? means Did he/she do?
Sen yoruldun mu? means Are you tired?
Sen gördün mü? means Did you see?
3. Tag Questions
Finally, you can also make a question by adding a tag question to the end of a sentence. The tag question is “değil mi” in Turkish.
Examples:
O toplantıya geldi, değil mi? means He/She came to the meeting, didn’t she/he?
Aslı eve gitmeyecek, değil mi? means Aslı won’t go to home, will she?
( In the last example, the word gitmeyecek has negative meaning. The suffix “–me, (-ma)” gives the negative meaning to the verb.)
The chart below is the summary of "wh" words in Turkish and their translation in English
| Questions | Sorular |
| how? | nasıl? |
| what? | ne? |
| who? | kim? |
| why? | neden? |
| where? | nerede? |
The chart below gives some simple examples
| how far is this? | (bu) ne kadar uzak? |
| what time is it? | saat kaç? |
| how much is this? | bu ne kadar?, kaç para? |
| what is your name? | senin adın ne? |
| where do you live? | nerede yaşıyorsun? |
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