Questions & Answers about Kardeşin var mı?
I don't see a verb for "to have". How does this mean "Do you have..."?
Turkish doesn't have a direct verb for "to have". Instead, you use a possessive suffix and the word var (meaning "there is" or "exists"). Literally, kardeşin var means "your sibling exists". Adding the question particle mı makes it "Does your sibling exist?", which is the standard Turkish way to ask "Do you have a sibling?".
Why is the ending -in added to kardeş?
The -in ending is the "your" possessive suffix for the 2nd person singular. Because kardeş ends in a consonant and its last vowel is 'e', we use -in to match Turkish vowel harmony rules.
The English translation says "siblings" (plural), but kardeşin is singular. Why?
When asking generally if someone has a certain type of thing or family member, Turkish naturally uses the singular form. While English prefers the plural "any siblings", the Turkish sentence literally asks about a singular "sibling".
Why is mı written as a separate word here?
Yes/no question particles like mı are always written with a space before them. However, they still follow the vowel harmony of the word right before them. Since var has an 'a' vowel, the particle takes the undotted 'ı' form to become mı.
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