Question 1

How does yüzde doksan translate to "ninety percent"?

Accepted Answer

In Turkish, percentages are formed using the locative case suffix -de or -da attached to yüz (hundred). So yüzde literally means "in a hundred." You read it as "in a hundred, ninety," which is exactly what ninety percent means! Notice that the order is reversed compared to English: the "percent" part (yüzde) comes before the number (doksan).

Question 2

Why is there an -ı at the end of oranı?

Accepted Answer

This is the compound noun suffix. When two nouns are put together to make a single new concept, like başarı (success) and oran (rate), the second noun usually takes a possessive suffix. Because oran ends in a consonant and its last vowel is "a", it takes the suffix -ı to become oranı (success rate).

Question 3

Why is the locative suffix on grafik written as -te instead of -de?

Accepted Answer

The word grafik (graph) ends in the hard consonant "k". In Turkish, when you add a suffix starting with "d" to a word ending in a hard consonant (remember the "Fıstıkçı Şahap" rule), the suffix mutates to start with a "t" to match. So the locative suffix -de becomes -te. The vowel is "e" because the last vowel in grafik is "i", following standard vowel harmony rules.

Question 4

Could I put the question particle mı earlier in the sentence?

Accepted Answer

Yes, but it changes the focus of the question. The question particle usually goes right after the specific information you are trying to confirm. Placed at the end, yüzde doksan mı? focuses on the number: "is it ninety percent?". If you instead asked Bu grafikte mi başarı oranı yüzde doksan?, you would be asking "Is it on THIS graph that the success rate is ninety percent?"

Bu grafikte başarı oranı yüzde doksan mı?

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