Where Do I Put mI? Quick Guide

The question particle mI (surfacing as mı / mi / mu / mü under vowel harmony) is how Turkish turns a statement into a yes/no question. Mechanically it is the single trickiest small word in the language, because where you put it — and which word carries the person ending — depends on the tense and on what you're asking about. The good news: it all reduces to three rules. Once you can sort a verb by its tense and decide whether you're asking a plain yes/no question or focusing on one word, mI's position is fully determined. For the underlying behavior see the question particle mI.

First, the two non-negotiables

Before the rules, two facts that never change:

• mI is a separate word. Write it with a space: geliyor mu, never geliyormu. It is a clitic that leans on the previous word phonologically but is spelled apart.
• mI harmonizes four ways to the last vowel before it: mı (after a, ı), mi (after e, i), mu (after o, u), mü (after ö, ü). So aldın mı but geldin mi but okudun mu but gördün mü.

Rule 1: -(I)yor / -(I)r / -(y)AcAK / -mIş tenses — mI comes BEFORE the person ending

For the present continuous -(I)yor, the aorist -(I)r, the future -(y)AcAK, and the evidential -mIş, the particle slides between the tense stem and the person ending. The verb stops at the tense, mI follows as a separate word, and then the person ending attaches to mI.

So geliyorsun "you are coming" becomes geliyor *musun? — the -sun* "you" rides on the particle, not on the verb.

Look at geliyor musun: the person marker -sun has left the verb and landed on mu. This is the rule English speakers most need to drill, because the person ending physically migrates onto the particle. The third person has no ending, so it's simply geliyor mu?, yağacak mı? — verb, then bare particle.

Rule 2: -DI (past) / -sA (conditional) — the verb KEEPS its ending, mI follows bare

The seen-past -DI and the conditional -sA carry the so-called Type-1 personal endings (-m, -n, -k, -nIz), and these endings stay welded to the verb. The particle then follows the whole finished verb, with no ending of its own.

So geldin "you came" stays intact and just adds mi: geldin *mi? — not *geldi misin.

Here the person is already on the verb (geldi-*n, aldı-n*), so mI is just tacked on bare. The contrast with Rule 1 is the heart of the whole topic: geliyor musun (ending on mI) versus geldin mi (ending on the verb). Sort the tense first, and the placement follows.

Rule 3: Focus questions — mI follows the FOCUSED word

Everything above assumes a plain yes/no question about the whole event. But you can also question one specific constituent — "Is it Ali who came?" rather than "Did Ali come?" To do that, you place mI immediately after the word you're asking about, wherever it sits, and the verb is left alone in the unmarked third person.

Compare Ali geldi mi? "Did Ali come?" (whole-event yes/no — mI after the verb) with Ali mi geldi? "Was it Ali who came?" (focus on Ali — mI after Ali). The particle is a spotlight: whatever it sits behind is what's being questioned. This pairs naturally with the preverbal focus position — the focused word usually sits right before the verb, with mI clinging to it.

Putting it together: the decision in three steps

1. Are you focusing one word? If yes → put mI right after that word; the verb stays plain (Sen mi aldın?). If no, it's a whole-event yes/no question, so:
2. Is the verb -DI or -sA? If yes → leave the ending on the verb and add bare mI (aldın mı).
3. Otherwise (-(I)yor / -(I)r / -(y)AcAK / -mIş) → mI follows the tense stem and carries the person ending (alıyor musun).

That's the entire system. For the formal paradigm tables, see mI placement on verbs and the mI particle on verbs.

Common mistakes

The deepest English-speaker error is treating mI like English do-support or a fixed sentence-final tag — gluing it to the very end no matter the tense or focus.

Key takeaways

• mI is a separate word and harmonizes four ways (mı / mi / mu / mü) to the vowel before it.
• Rule 1 — -(I)yor / -(I)r / -(y)AcAK / -mIş: mI follows the tense stem and carries the person ending (geliyor musun).
• Rule 2 — -DI / -sA: the verb keeps its ending, mI follows bare (geldin mi).
• Rule 3 — focus question: mI follows the focused word, verb stays plain (Ali mi geldi?).
• Decide focus first, then tense; the placement is then fully determined.