# Basic questions (Soru cümleleri)



## Frank06

Hi everybody,

I'm sorry for the seemingly generic title, but I really do have a question about how to form (basic) questions in Turkish. 
Well, I am currently working on a set of exercises on word order in Dutch (for speakers of Turkish) and I plan to have some Dutch/Turkish contrastive example phrases. One detail: I don't know Turkish _at all_.

My basic sentence is the completely uncool phrase
Hasan mektup yazıyor.
Hasan writes a letter.

The questions I want to ask are the following:
(a) Does _Hasan _write a letter?
My attempt: Hasan mı mektup yazıyor?
(and I think I more or less understand the point of -mI*)

(b) Who writes a letter?
My attempt: Kim mektup yazıyor?

(c) What does Hasan write?
My attempt: Hasan ne yazıyor?

I'd like to ask whether the sentences in blue both correct _and_ the most common way of asking such questions in Turkish.

Thanks in advance.

Frank


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## Asr

not bad at all Frank!

Now lets see :

Hasan mektup yazıyor.
Hasan writes a letter.

The questions I want to ask are the following:
(a) Does _Hasan _write a letter? : Hasan mektup mu yazıyor?
My attempt: Hasan mı mektup yazıyor? = Is it Hasan who writes a letter?
(and I think I more or less understand the point of -mI*)

(b) Who writes a letter?
My attempt: Kim mektup yazıyor?

(c) What does Hasan write?
My attempt: Hasan ne yazıyor?


Now there is also this thing with the Turkish language; it is kinda similar to French in the sense that the present continious form you have used works also as present simple. 

Thus, Hasan mektup yazıyor also reads as "Hasan is writing a letter." whereas Hasan mektup yazar, only works one way: "Hasan writes letters." (i.e simple present) Would you like to hear more on that? I don't want to confuse you, if that is not necessary.


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## Frank06

Hi Asr

Thank you very much for your quick reply, the corrections and the additions.



Asr said:


> Thus, Hasan mektup yazıyor also reads as "Hasan is writing a letter." whereas Hasan mektup yazar, only works one way: "Hasan writes letters." (i.e simple present) Would you like to hear more on that? I don't want to confuse you, if that is not necessary.


Thanks for this piece information! I am certainly going to keep this in mind.

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Chazzwozzer

Where you've placed _mı _with emphasis on Hasan is correct, Frank. 

*Hasan mı mektup yazıyor?*
Is _Hasan _writing a letter?

*Hasan mektup mu yazıyor?*
Is Hasan writing _a letter_?

*Hasan mektup yazıyor mu?*
Is Hasan writing a letter?


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## Frank06

Hi,



Chazzwozzer said:


> *Hasan mı mektup yazıyor?*
> *Hasan mektup mu yazıyor?*
> *Hasan mektup yazıyor mu?*



Thanks .
I have got a few follow up questions. Turkish -mI by and large does the same as stress in Dutch (and English). But does Turkish has the aspect of stress too in these cases?
Is *Hasan mı / mektup mu* etc. stressed?

And what about the intonation in general in Turkish? Are questions (and especially this kind of "mI-questions") in Turkish marked by a rising intonation too?

Groetjes,

Frank


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## Asr

I wouldn't translate all the 3 sentences as "Is Hasan writing a letter?"; where you place mu/mi matters since  it changes the meaning of the sentences carrying the stress to the word that precedes the suffix.  

1-Hasan mı mektup yazıyor? (The stress here is on the subject Hasan)
Is it Hasan who is writing a letter?

2-Hasan mektup mu yazıyor? (The stress here is on the object letter)
Is Hasan writing  a letter?

3-Hasan mektup yazıyor mu? (and here the stress is on the action of writing a letter.)
Does Hasan write letters? 

Just trying to make it clear for you; the questions above could be answered like that: 

1. Hayır, Ali mektup yazıyor. / No, Ali is writing a letter.

2. Hayır, Hasan ödevini yapıyor. / No, Hasan is doing his homework.

3. Hayır, Hasan hiç mektup yazmaz ama arar. / No Hasan never writes letters, but he calls. 

I hope this helps a bit...geez, it is really not always that easy to explain how one's native language works.


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## Syarikat

Although I'm not yet advanced in my efforts to learn Turkish, since the previous reply did not address the phonetic aspect of stress/intonation, I'd like to offer my observations on question intonation in Turkish.

Unlike the stereotypical rising intonation on the final word in Dutch (and in a number of other West European languages - I say stereotypical because it mainly occurs in rather artificial or formal contexts, such as reading aloud; in many everyday contexts there are different contours which depend on many contextual factors) - Turkish question intonation curves as they typically appear on recordings accompanying language coursebooks seem to have the following characterics:

- so-called wh-questions (with ne, neden, nerede, kim, hangi, etc.) carry stress/pitch accent on the question word, and a slight rise at the end of the sentence

- yes/no questions (with mI) seem to have gradually rising intonation over the predicate part of the sentence, the highest point (and the onset of a rather steep fall in pitch) just before the question marker mI, which consequenly is lower in pitch than the preceding stretch

- when a yes/no question can be interpreted as a softened imperative, suggestion or proposal, the question word with personal suffix is also pronounced lower than the preceding stretch, but a slight final rise can occur at the end.

Note that I do not claim to know how this works in the Turkish language in its entirety or in daily interaction. It is only what I have observed in textbook type recordings.

I hope this helps.


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## tongaalp

İf stress is on Hasan, then

Does "Hasan" write a letter?=Hasan mı mektup yazıyor?

Ve;
Is it Hasan who is writing a letter?= Mektup yazan Hasan mı?


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## Chazzwozzer

Frank06 said:


> But does Turkish has the aspect of stress too in these cases?
> Is *Hasan mı / mektup mu* etc. stressed?


The word before -mı is usually stressed, but you wouldn't feel the stress clearly as you might expect. _Hasan _mı / _mektup _mu



Frank06 said:


> And what about the intonation in general in Turkish? Are questions (and especially this kind of "mI-questions") in Turkish marked by a rising intonation too?


Yes, but not always or very explicitly.

Ekin


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## veronica55

Just focus on ASR's last post. His explanation is exactly true. The others have some mistakes.


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## Frank06

Hi,


veronica55 said:


> Just focus on ASR's last post. His explanation is exactly true. The others have some mistakes.


Just in defence of all "the others".
From where I am sitting, *all* the answers were very informative.
My point was only to find some correct sentences which I can use for contrasting basic Dutch and Turkish questions, without going into details,  even disregarding stress, topicalisation or other marked word order (in Dutch/English). 
On the level and in the context I had in mind (1st week of Dutch, small, simple examples without theoretical background, an audience of Turkish students (not language-nerds like us ;-) these examples would mainly serve to illustrate the place of the subject and conjugated verb _in Dutch_. I am _not _working on an elaborate contrastive grammar or something .

I am quite sure that I understood the use of -mI* (and the informative replies confirmed that), but that has never been my main concern.



> I wouldn't translate all the 3 sentences as "Is Hasan writing a letter?"


I think that's why other people and I used italics. These italics were just a shortcut to keep the most basic structure of a yes/no-question (in Dutch/English) and to indicate where the _stress _would be in both languages 
Is _Hasan_ (mI*) writing a letter?
Is Hasan _writing (mI_*) a letter?
Is Hasan writing a _letter (mI*_)?

Guys, thank you very much, all of you!

Groetjes,

Frank


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## ficen

Hi you,

My name is Fatma İçen. I'm from İzmir, Turkey. I've just seen your post accidentally. It had been written nearly a year ago though, but I'd like to write an answer to your question.

Hasan mektup yazıyor. = Hasan is writing a letter.

Hasan mektup mu yazıyor? = (What is Hasan doing?) Is Hasan writing a letter?

Mektubu Hasan mı yazıyor? = (Who's writing the letter?) Is Hasan writing the letter? (The stress is on the Subject)

Hasan mı mektup yazıyor? = (Really?) Is Hasan writing a letter? (The stress is on the word Hasan, the Subject.)

Hasan mektup yazıyor mu? = (Generally speaking) Does Hasan writes letters?

I think these explanations will be useful for you.


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## Brunoleon

OK ,though  it's very late may be ,I would write some more examples and explanation about question forms in Turkish.
First of all , there are 4 addings used to form a question depending on wovels of the main word
  : ''mı''  ''mi''  ''mu'' '' mü''
here are some examples :

gidiyor mu?  (is he/she going?)
gördün mü ? (have you seen ?)
bitirdin mi? (have you finished?)
bu bir oyun havası mı? (is this a belly-dance music?)

in Turkish spoken ,emphasis on some parts is very rare ,you can hear almost no  emphasis comparing it with some European languages  .the reason is very simple ; ''addings are so clear that you don't need to make any emphasis on question tags.
an other point about Turkish comparing it with English , in Turkish present continuos tense is used more than simple present tense ,in Turkish you can't use simple present tense instead of continuos tense.simple present in Turkish almost only used for , habits , periodic activities , abilities about talent.

Ahmet iyi piyano çalar.(Ahmet plays pianovery well.) (it is what he always does) but
Ahmet iyi piyano çalıyor.(Ahmet is playing piano very well)(now)in English ''Ahmet plays piano very well.''

an other point while asking a question it is possible to ask in two ways

Is Ahmet playing Piano well?  (Ahmet iyi piyano çalıyor mu?)
Does Ahmet play piano well? (Ahmet iyi piyano çalar mı?)
Both of these questions has a similar meaning indeed , though they were asked in two different tenses.

here are some more question examples for you ,those can help you to understand more ;

Ben mi sana söyledim? Did I tell you this ?   
Sana bunu söyleyen ben miyim?  Is it me who told you this?
Gelen Ahmet mi? (is it ahmet who comes here?)
As you see it is little bit complicated , in order to translate Turkish you need to learn and understand the grammer ,otherwise it would be very hard for you ,cause there are some rules and exceptions.


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