[Originally posted on 05/14/15 on the Duolingo Turkish for English speakers forum by Selcen_Ozturk]
Question Words
Turkish question words do not undergo the same movement that they do in English (notice…questions words almost always are at the beginning of questions in English). Instead, they keep put in the place that naturally occur in the sentence-form of the question. For example, imagine that you are surprised while asking the question “Where did you buy the present?” You might exclaim, “You bought the present WHERE?!” Turkish maintains this position in sentences.
Do not forget Turkish is a SOV language. This means that verbs are always at the end if the sentence contains a verb.
Yes/No Questions
Forming Yes/No questions in Turkish is done by using a particle attached to the end of sentences. This particle is mI-. It obeys 4-way vowel harmony. The personal endings for the to be copula are always attached to this particle. They are never kept on the end of the verb or noun that they would normally attach to in declarative sentences. For example:
Yoksa or Veya
Although they both mean “or”, they are not interchangeable. Veya is used when you have multiple options that may exist outside of the two things you are asking.
- Nur Türkçe veya İngilizce biliyor. : Nur knows Turkish or English. (she may know other languages)
Yoksa is used when where are only two options. It is normally optional and is always accompanied with the question particle following both possible options in question.
- Evim büyük mü yoksa küçük mü?
- Evim büyük mü, küçük mü?
- Is my house big or small?
[Updated by Danika_Dakika starting 03/01/22]
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