The question is a separate word, mi
English makes a yes/no question by moving the verb to the front — 'You are drinking tea' becomes 'Are you drinking tea?' — and by hauling in a dummy 'do' where no verb volunteers. Turkish does neither: the word order never moves. Instead the particle mı / mi / mu / mü (vowel harmony picks the vowel, as always) is placed after whatever the question is about. For example: “Buradan uzak mı?” — Is it far from here?. A…
How it works
English makes a yes/no question by moving the verb to the front — 'You are drinking tea' becomes 'Are you drinking tea?' — and by hauling in a dummy 'do' where no verb volunteers. Turkish does neither: the word order never moves. Instead the particle mı / mi / mu / mü (vowel harmony picks the vowel, as always) is placed after whatever the question is about.
It is written as a separate word but pronounced fused with the one before it:
Su var — there is water. Su var mı? — is there water?
Çay içiyorsun — you are drinking tea. Çay içiyor musun? — are you drinking tea?
So the English 'do-support' has no job here: the question lives in one small tail, exactly where the stressed word would sit in an English echo question ('you are drinking TEA?').
By example
- Buradan uzak mı?Is it far from here?
- Türkçe biliyor musunuz?Do you know Turkish?
- Kahve ister misin?Do you want coffee?
How the rule settles in your head
A rule is not memorized from an explanation. It is memorized from an attempt to use it and a mistake — that is why the app delivers it mixed in with words, not as a separate lesson: it resurfaces exactly where you forgot it.
Frequently asked
The question is a separate word, mi: how does it work in Turkish?
English makes a yes/no question by moving the verb to the front — 'You are drinking tea' becomes 'Are you drinking tea?' — and by hauling in a dummy 'do' where no verb volunteers. Turkish does neither: the word order never moves. Instead the particle mı / mi / mu / mü (vowel harmony picks the…
What does it look like in an example sentence Turkish?
“Buradan uzak mı?” — Is it far from here?. A rule is easier to test on sentences like this than to memorize as a wording: what surfaces in conversation is the sentence.