Breakdown of Ofiste sıcak kahve var mı?
sıcak
hot
var
there is / existent
ofis
office
kahve
coffee
mi
question particle (mı/mi/mu/mü)
Questions & Answers about Ofiste sıcak kahve var mı?
How do var and mı work together to mean 'is there?'
var means 'there is' or 'exists.' To turn this into a yes/no question ('is there?'), we add the question particle mı. It is always written as a separate word, but its vowel changes to harmonize with the word right before it.
Why is the ending for 'in the office' -te instead of -de?
The suffix for 'in' or 'at' is usually -da or -de. However, because ofis ends with a hard, voiceless consonant (s), the d changes to a t to make pronunciation smoother. The vowel is e because it must harmonize with the front vowel i in ofis.
Why is ofiste at the very beginning of the sentence?
In Turkish, information about 'where' or 'when' typically goes at the start of the sentence. The standard word order for asking if something exists somewhere is '[Location] [Item] var mı?'.
Why does the question particle use an ı here (mı)?
The question particle follows four-way vowel harmony, meaning it looks at the last vowel of the preceding word to decide its own vowel. Since the preceding word is var, which has an a, the particle must take an ı.
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