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Questions & Answers about O ne?
Why is ne at the end of the sentence instead of the beginning?
In English, we put "what" at the beginning of the question. In Turkish, question words like ne usually sit exactly where the answer will go. Since the answer would be something like O kedi (That is a cat), the question is simply O ne? (That is what?).
Where is the word for "is" in this sentence?
Turkish usually leaves out the "to be" verb (am/is/are) for simple statements and questions in the present tense. O ne? literally just means "That what?", but it is perfectly complete and naturally translates to "What is that?".
Since o means "he", "she", "it", and "that", how do we know which one it is here?
The key is the question word! Because we are asking ne (what) instead of kim (who), we know we are asking about an object or an animal, not a person. So o translates to "it" or "that over there" rather than "he" or "she".
What is the difference between asking O ne? and Bu ne?
It is all about distance. You ask Bu ne? (What is this?) for something right next to you. You ask O ne? (What is that?) for something far away that you might have to point at.