Questions & Answers about Otelde kaç kişi var?
Why is it kişi (person) instead of plural kişiler (people)?
In Turkish, whenever you use a number or a quantity question word like kaç (how many), the noun that follows must remain singular. So you always say kaç kişi, never kaç kişiler.
Why isn't there a question particle like mı at the end of the sentence to make it a question?
Because the word kaç (how many) is already a question word. In Turkish, when a sentence has a specific question word like kaç, kim (who), or ne (what), you do not add the yes/no question particle mı.
Why does otelde (in the hotel) come at the very beginning of the sentence?
When asking or stating that something exists in a location using var (there is/are), the place usually comes first in Turkish. The standard word order is [Place] + [kaç] + [Thing] + [var].
Just to refresh, why is the suffix on the hotel -de and not -da?
This is a quick reminder of vowel harmony! The last vowel in otel is 'e', which is a front vowel. Because of this, the locative suffix (which means in, on, or at) must also use a front vowel, making it -de instead of -da.