Now we're going to talk about how to ask questions using the Turkish words "var": it
exists or they exist and
"yok": it does not exist, or they do not exist
You know that to form a statement like "I have a sibling" in Turkish
You're going to use "var." So for example
"I have a sibling"
"Kardeşim"... use the possessive first person singular suffix car - shame
"Kardeşim var": I have a sibling
What if we want to ask
"Do I have a sibling?"
We're going to add the
question particle which as you recall
follows the rules of four-way vowel harmony, and it can take one of these four different forms
"mi, mı, mu, and mü"
After "var" it's always going to take the form "mı" because "mı"
corresponds best with "var" according to the rules of vowel harmony, so to ask "do I have a sibling"
I'm going to say
optional "benim": my
"Kardeşim var mı?"
so literally
my sibling exist
But we'll translate it as "do I have a sibling?" and of course you can do this for
first person second person and third person so let's see how we ask "Do you have a sibling?"
optional "senin": you
"kardeşin var mı?" question particle
So "Kardeşin var": you have a sibling
"Kardeşin var mı?": do you have a sibling?
Third person very similar situation, "onun"
his or hers, optional
"kardeşi..."
We could also use a name like "Mehmet'in kardeşi": Mehmet's sibling
"...var mı?"
so this would be "he has a sibling" or
If we had "Mehmet'in", "Mehmet has a sibling"
with the question particle it becomes "does he or does she have a sibling?"
Let's move on to the plural
"Bizim": our
"kardeşimiz var mı?"
Remember "var" does not change according to whether something is singular or plural so "do we have a sibling?"
for second person plural
Optional, "sizin": you
"kardeşiniz": your sibling
exists, or you have a sibling: "kardeşiniz var mı?": Do you have a sibling?
for the third person plural
"Onların" or you can use a proper noun, like a name
"Onların kardeşi"
Or alternatively
"kardeşleri"
the same meaning, you can use either ,their sibling
"var mı"
So this would be "they have a sibling"
"Onların kardeşi var" or " Onların kardeşleri var"
Add the question particle and it becomes "do they have a sibling?"
Now what you can do with "var" in this case you can also do with "yok", the Turkish word for
does not exists or is not there or are not there
So we know that if we say "Kardeşim yok" that means "I do not have a sibling" or
my sibling is not there
If we want to ask
"Don't I have a sibling?" or "Do I not have a sibling? we can say
"Kardeşim yok..."
And here because of vowel harmony after
"yok" we're going to choose a different form of the question particle so "Kardeşim yok mu?"
"Do I not have a sibling, don't I have a sibling?" again second person singular
"Kardeşin yok mu?"
And just like we always used "mı" after "var" as our version of the question particle
"yok"'s version of the question particle will always be "mu" because of vowel harmony
So "Onun kardeşi yok mu?"
Doesn't he or she have a sibling?
Again can use a proper noun here like "Mehmet'in kardeşi yok mu?": Doesn't Mehmet have a sibling?
"Bizim kardeşımız yok mu?": Don't we have sibling?
"Sizin kardeşiniz yok mu?": Don't you plural or you formal have a sibling?
and for they "Onların kardeşi" or
or "Onlar kardeşleri yok mu?"
Don't they have a sibling, do they not have a sibling?
Now these are all yes/no questions. There's another kind of question you can ask in Turkish using "var" a
question with a question word so for example
Let's say we want to ask someone how many siblings they have we'll start with the Turkish word for how much or how many, "kaç"
how much, how many?
Then let's say we're using second person singular
informal so maybe we're asking a child "how many siblings do you have"
"Kaç" word for sibling: "kardeş"
How many sibling? There's your sibling so we will add the second person singular possessive suffix
"Kaç kardeşin var?"
This is complete. How many siblings do you have?
Notice that we do not need to use the question particle if we are using a question word like "kaç" or
"hangi" which means "which" any
question, if you're using one of those question words do not need to use the question particle and you cannot
so "how many siblings do you have?"
You can use this construction with any of our possessive suffixes
So for example if you wanted to ask "how many siblings do we have?" first person plural you could say
"Kaç kardeşimiz var?": How many siblings do we have?