Hangi masalı okumuş?

Breakdown of Hangi masalı okumuş?

okumak
to read
hangi
which
masal
fairytale, tale

Questions & Answers about Hangi masalı okumuş?

Why use okumuş instead of okudu for "did she read"?
The verb okumuş uses the reported past tense suffix -muş. You use this tense when you didn't witness the event yourself, but rather heard about it from someone else (as if asking, "Which fairytale did they say she read?"). If you were asking about an event you directly knew happened, you would use the simple past: okudu.
Why is there an at the end of masalı?
The word hangi (which) makes the object of the sentence specific. Whenever you ask "which [object]", Turkish requires that object to take the definite accusative case. So, masal (fairytale) gets the suffix to become masalı.
How do we know it means "did she read" and not "did you read"?
The verb okumuş has no personal suffix at the very end. In the -mIş past tense, the 3rd person singular (he/she/it) just uses the tense suffix without adding any person marker. If the question was "Which fairytale did you read?", it would be okumuşsun.
Why is the reported past suffix -muş here, rather than -mış?
This is due to 4-way vowel harmony. The last vowel in the verb root oku- (to read) is u. Because of this, the suffix must match it with an u sound, making it -muş.

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