sormak means "to ask (a question)" — to seek information. The single most important fact about it is its case frame: the person you ask goes in the dative, and the thing you ask about goes in the accusative. English uses one preposition-less verb ("ask someone something"), so learners reliably get the Turkish cases wrong on their first try. Lock in birine bir şey sormak and you've solved ninety percent of the difficulty.
The case frame: dative person, accusative question
The skeleton is: [person in dative] + [thing in accusative] + sormak.
Öğretmene bir şey sordum.
I asked the teacher something.
Yol tarifini bir polise sordum.
I asked a police officer for directions.
Çocuk bana saati sordu.
The child asked me the time.
The person asked is the recipient of the question, so Turkish marks it with the dative case -(y)A — the same "to/toward" case used with give, say, and send. Think of a question as something you direct to a person, exactly as you'd direct a gift. The thing asked, when definite, takes the accusative (saati "the time," yol tarifini "the directions").
sana soruyorum: asking a person directly
Because the person is dative, "I'm asking you" is sana soruyorum — with the dative pronoun. This phrase is everywhere in conversation, often to press for an answer or pin someone down.
Sana soruyorum: bunu sen mi yaptın?
I'm asking you: did you do this?
Bize sormadan karar vermiş.
He apparently decided without asking us.
Kime sorsam aynı cevabı alıyorum.
Whoever I ask, I get the same answer.
Note kime ("to whom") in the last example — the question word for "who" also goes dative when it's the person being asked, just like the full nouns.
Asking about something or someone: -(y)I sormak
When you ask about a person or topic, that person/topic is the accusative object of sormak (you're "asking [after] them"). The person you direct the question to stays dative as always.
Komşular hep seni soruyor, nasılsın diye.
The neighbours keep asking about you — how you're doing.
Annem telefonda hep torunlarını soruyor.
On the phone my mother always asks about her grandchildren.
So seni sordu can mean "she asked about you / she asked after you." The dative is reserved for the addressee; the accusative covers the topic of the question.
Embedding a yes/no or wh-question
Most real questions you "ask" are whole clauses, not single nouns: "she asked whether I was coming," "he asked where the station was." Turkish embeds these as nominalized clauses, and the resulting verbal noun takes the accusative as the object of sormak.
For a yes/no embedded question, Turkish uses the -(y)Ip … -mA- "whether or not" frame: pair the positive stem (with the linking converb -(y)Ip) and the negative future/realized nominalization. The classic shape is gelip gelmeyeceğini sordu "she asked whether [I/he] would come (or not)."
Gelip gelmeyeceğimi sordu.
She asked whether I would come.
Otobüsün kalkıp kalkmadığını sordum.
I asked whether the bus had left.
For a wh-embedded question, the wh-word stays inside the clause and the verb is nominalized with -DIK/-AcAk + possessive + accusative.
Toplantının ne zaman başlayacağını sordu.
He asked when the meeting would start.
Neden geç kaldığımı sordular.
They asked why I was late.
In all of these the embedded verb ends in the accusative (-ı/-i/-ü/-u with the buffer -n-): geleceğini, kaldığımı, başlayacağını. That accusative is the object slot of sormak — the whole question is "the thing asked."
The aorist: sorar
sormak has a regular aorist, sorar ("asks / will ask, habitually").
| Person | Aorist (positive) | Aorist (negative) |
|---|---|---|
| ben | sorarım | sormam |
| sen | sorarsın | sormazsın |
| o | sorar | sormaz |
| biz | sorarız | sormayız |
| siz | sorarsınız | sormazsınız |
| onlar | sorarlar | sormazlar |
Bir şey bilmiyorsan bana sorarsın, çekinme.
If you don't know something, just ask me — don't hesitate.
The aorist sorarım here carries its typical "feel free to / I'm available for that" offer reading, common in everyday speech.
sormak vs istemek: "ask a question" vs "ask for / want"
English ask hides two completely different verbs. sormak is "ask a question / seek information." istemek is "ask for / request / want" — when you ask someone to give you or to do something. They share no case frame.
| Verb | Sense of "ask" | Person frame | Object/complement |
|---|---|---|---|
| sormak | ask a question, seek info | dative (-A) | accusative thing / nominalized question |
| istemek | ask for, request, want | ablative (-DAn) for the person you request from | accusative thing / -mAsInI for a requested action |
Garsona hesabı sordum.
I asked the waiter about the bill (e.g. how much it was).
Garsondan hesabı istedim.
I asked the waiter for the bill (to bring it).
The contrast is sharp: with sormak you want information; with istemek you want the thing itself, and the person shifts from dative to ablative.
Common mistakes
❌ Beni bir şey sordu.
Incorrect — the person asked is dative, not accusative.
✅ Bana bir şey sordu.
He asked me something.
❌ Sana soruyorum bir şey.
Incorrect — the question object should precede the verb, not trail after it like an English afterthought.
✅ Sana bir şey soruyorum.
I'm asking you something.
❌ Garsona hesabı sordum getirsin diye.
Incorrect — to request the bill (the object itself), use istemek with the ablative.
✅ Garsondan hesabı istedim.
I asked the waiter for the bill.
❌ Gelecek misin diye sordu bana akşam.
Incorrect — embedded yes/no questions are nominalized with -(y)Ip…-mA-, not left as a finite question plus diye in formal use.
✅ Gelip gelmeyeceğimi sordu.
She asked whether I would come.
❌ Ona sordum nerede oturduğunu var mı.
Incorrect — a wh-embedded question is a single nominalized clause; don't tack on a yes/no marker.
✅ Ona nerede oturduğunu sordum.
I asked him where he lived.
Key takeaways
- sormak = ask a question / seek information. Frame: dative person + accusative question — birine bir şey sormak.
- "I'm asking you" = sana soruyorum (dative pronoun); never seni soruyorum for the addressee (seni sordu means "asked about you").
- Embedded yes/no questions use -(y)Ip … -mA- (gelip gelmeyeceğini); wh-questions use -DIK/-AcAk
- possessive + accusative (nerede oturduğunu).
- Don't confuse it with istemek "ask for/want," which puts the person in the ablative.
- Aorist: sorar (regular).
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Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- The Dative -(y)A: To / Into / ForA1 — The dative case -(y)A marks goal and direction (to, into, onto), the indirect object, and the complement of the many Turkish verbs and postpositions that lexically demand it.
- Embedded and Indirect QuestionsB2 — Turkish has no 'if/whether' word — yes/no embedded questions use the -(y)Ip…-mA pattern or a nominalized mI-question, and wh-questions nominalize with -DIK/-(y)AcAK.
- istemek (to want)A2 — istemek 'to want' — the same-subject -mAk infinitive vs the different-subject -mA + possessive complement, noun objects, and the idiom canım istiyor.
- cevap vermek and yanıtlamak (to answer)B1 — Two verbs for 'answer' — the light verb cevap vermek (dative addressee) and the native-coined yanıtlamak (accusative object), a textbook Öztürkçe register pair.