Breakdown of Sahneye yakın oturalım mı?
oturmak
to sit
yakın
near / close
mi
question particle (mı/mi/mu/mü)
sahne
stage
Questions & Answers about Sahneye yakın oturalım mı?
How does oturalım mı translate to "shall we sit"?
The verb root is otur- (to sit). We add the 1st person plural optative ending -alım to get oturalım (let's sit). When we add the question particle mı at the end, it turns the suggestion into a question, changing "Let's sit" into "Shall we sit?".
Why is there a -ye ending on sahneye instead of just saying sahne yakın?
In Turkish, the word yakın (close or near) requires the dative case (-(y)e or -(y)a) for the thing you are close to. Sahne means "stage", so we must say sahneye yakın (close to the stage).
Why is there a y inside sahneye?
Sahne ends in a vowel (e), and the dative suffix we need is also a vowel (-e). Turkish avoids putting two vowels right next to each other, so we use y as a buffer letter to connect them smoothly.
Why is mı written as a separate word instead of being attached to oturalım?
The question particle mı is always written with a space before it in Turkish, even though it acts like a suffix and follows vowel harmony. It looks at the last vowel of oturalım (which is 'ı'), so it takes the form mı.