Breakdown of O radyo pahalı mı?
o
that / he / she / it
pahalı
expensive
radyo
radio
mi
question particle (mı/mi/mu/mü)
Questions & Answers about O radyo pahalı mı?
Where is the verb 'is' in this sentence?
In Turkish, there is no separate word for 'is' in sentences like this. For the 'he/she/it' form, the verb 'to be' is simply invisible. You just put the subject (o radyo) and the adjective (pahalı) together.
I learned that o means 'he', 'she', or 'it'. Why does it mean 'that' here?
O can be a pronoun meaning 'he', 'she', or 'it', but it is also a pointing word meaning 'that'. Because it comes directly before a noun (radyo), it groups with it to form the subject. So, o radyo means 'that radio'. If there were a comma like O, radyo, it would mean 'It is a radio'.
Why is the question word mı at the very end of the sentence?
In English, yes/no questions start with words like 'Is' or 'Does'. In Turkish, you form a yes/no question by adding a question particle like mı after the specific word you are asking about. Because Turkish puts its main ideas and verbs at the end of the sentence, the question particle usually sits at the very end too.
Why did we use mı instead of mi here?
The question particle changes its vowel to match the last vowel of the word right before it. The last vowel in pahalı is ı, so the particle must be mı to follow 4-way vowel harmony rules.