3rd-Person Stem before Question Particle — Turkish Grammar

To form yes/no questions with verbs, the question particle is used. The particle itself is a separate word and its vowel changes to match the last vowel of the word before it, according to 4-way vowel harmony.

The key to forming these questions correctly is knowing where to place the personal suffix (the ending that indicates who is doing the action, like -m for "I" or -n for "you"). There are two main patterns for this.

The General Rule

For most tenses and moods, the verb is put into its 3rd-person singular form (the form for "he/she/it"). The question particle is placed after the verb, and the personal suffix is attached directly to the question particle.

The structure is: Verb (3rd-person singular) + mı/mi/mu/mü + [Personal Suffix]?

This pattern applies to many common tenses:

Present Continuous Tense (-iyor)

Sen ofiste çalışıyor musun?
Are you working in the office?
Biz bu akşam sinemaya gidiyor muyuz?
Are we going to the cinema tonight?
Onlar Türkçe öğreniyorlar mı?
Are they learning Turkish?

Future Tense (-ecek/-acak)

Yarın beni arayacak mısın?
Will you call me tomorrow?
Toplantıya katılacak mısınız?
Will you (plural/formal) attend the meeting?

Simple Present / Aorist Tense (-r):<

Her sabah kahve içer misin?
Do you drink coffee every morning?
Genellikle otobüsle mi seyahat ederler?
Do they usually travel by bus?

Necessitative Mood (-meli/-malı)

Şimdi çıkmalı mıyım?
Should I leave now?
Bu raporu bitirmeli miyiz?
Do we have to finish this report?

Exceptions: Past Tense and Conditional

Two important verb forms do not follow the general rule. For the definite past tense and the conditional mood, the personal suffix is attached directly to the verb stem. The question particle comes after the complete, conjugated verb and has no suffix attached.

The structure is: Verb + [Personal Suffix] + mı/mi/mu/mü?

Definite Past Tense (-di/-dı/-ti/-tı)

In this tense, the personal ending is part of the verb itself. The question particle simply follows.

Dün filmi izledin mi?
Did you watch the movie yesterday?
Ödevinizi yaptınız mı?
Did you (plural/formal) do your homework?
Onlar İstanbul'a vardılar mı?
Did they arrive in Istanbul?

Conditional Mood (-se/-sa)

This mood is often used to make suggestions or pose hypothetical questions. Like the past tense, the personal suffix attaches to the verb.

Biraz dinlensem mi?
Should I rest a bit?
Pencereyi açsak mı?
Should we open the window?
Ona sorsan mı?
Should you ask him?

Forming Negative Questions

To create a negative question, the negative suffix is added to the verb stem, right before the tense or mood suffix. The rules for where to place the personal suffix remain the same.

With the General Rule

The negative suffix is on the verb, and the personal suffix is on the question particle.

Bu kitabı okumuyor musun?
Aren't you reading this book?
Neden bizimle gelmek istemez misin?
Why don't you want to come with us?

With the Exceptions

The negative suffix and the personal suffix are both on the verb.

Bana haber vermedin mi?
Didn't you let me know?
Daha erken çıkmasak mı?
Shouldn't we leave earlier?

In the course

Sentences from Lingora’s Turkish course

34 of the course's 500 sentences use this, the first in lesson 15. A few of them, with the words “3rd-Person Stem before Question Particle” is about in bold:

Mesajı tekrar gönderebilir misin?
Can you send the message again?
Lesson 426

Comments

Loading comments…