Questions & Answers about Saat beş dakika ileri mi?
Does saat mean "clock" or "time" here?
In this sentence, saat means the physical "clock" or "watch". You have seen it used to tell time (like saat üç for "three o'clock"), but it is also the word for the actual object itself!
Why is the word ileri used to mean a clock is "fast"?
İleri literally means "forward" or "ahead". In Turkish, instead of saying a clock is running "fast", you say it is "forward". If you wanted to ask if the clock was "slow", you would use geri, which means "backward" or "behind".
Shouldn't dakika be plural since it's "five minutes"?
No, it stays singular! A very important rule in Turkish is that whenever you use a number before a noun, the noun always remains in its singular form. Because we have the number beş (five) right before it, dakika (minute) does not take a plural ending.
Why is the question word mi at the very end?
mi is the yes/no question particle, and it is placed immediately after the word you want to emphasize or ask about. By putting it after ileri (fast/forward), the speaker is specifically asking "Is it fast?" as opposed to being on time.