Question Form in Nominal Sentences in Turkish

In Turkish, to ask yes–no questions like “Are you a student?” or “Is she happy?”, we don’t use a verb or auxiliary like “is” or “are”. Instead, we use a special question particle:

“mı, mi, mu, mü”

Where Does the Question Particle Go?

The question particle always comes after the noun or adjective and before the personal suffix.

So:

• “Sen öğrencisin” → “You are a student”

• Sen öğrenci misin? → “Are you a student?”

Here, the question particle is “mi”, and the suffix “-sin” still comes after it.

 Basic Structure

Subject + [noun/adjective] + mı/mi/mu/mü + personal suffix + ?

Example:

• “Sen yorgunsun.” → You are tired.

• Sen yorgun musun? → Are you tired?

Word Order in Questions

Unlike in English, the question particle never moves to the beginning of the sentence. Turkish keeps the same word order. You just insert the question particle in the right place.

• “O doktor.” → He is a doctor.

• O doktor mu? → Is he a doctor?

Personal Suffixes Still Apply

You still need to add the same personal endings that you used in regular nominal sentences — just now they come after the question particle.

Since the question particle ends with a vowel all the time, we will always need the buffer "y" for first person conjugations.

This doesn't apply to "onlar" as mI and lAr suffix never come together in Turkish.

Here are some examples in a chart.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

🚫 Don’t say: Misiniz öğrenci?

✅ Say: Öğrenci misiniz?

🚫 Don’t put the suffix before the question word.

✅ The suffix always comes after the question particle "mI".