Breakdown of Sen balık pişiriyor musun?
sen
you
balık
fish
pişirmek
to cook
mi
question particle (mı/mi/mu/mü)
Questions & Answers about Sen balık pişiriyor musun?
Why is musun written as a separate word, and what does the -sun part mean?
In Turkish, the question particle (mu) is always written as a separate word. When asking a question about "you" (singular), we attach the personal ending for "you" (-sun) directly to the question particle, making it musun.
Will the question word after a verb ending in -iyor always be mu?
Yes! The question particle follows vowel harmony rules based on the last vowel of the word before it. Since the present continuous ending -iyor always ends with the vowel "o", the question particle will always be mu (or muyum, musun, etc.).
Why isn't balık (fish) in the accusative case here?
We leave it as balık because you are asking about cooking fish in general, not a specific fish ("the fish"). In Turkish, when an object is general and placed right before the verb, it doesn't take any extra endings.
Is the word Sen (you) required at the beginning of the sentence?
No, it is optional. The -sun ending on musun already tells us that the subject is "you". You can just say Balık pişiriyor musun? and it means exactly the same thing. Including Sen just adds a little emphasis to the person doing the action.