Learn Turkish: Afişte bu cins bir kedi var mıydı? - Was there a cat of this breed on the poster?

In Turkish, when a noun has both an adjective or descriptive modifier (like cins) and the indefinite article bir, the order is almost always [Modifier] + bir + [Noun]. The demonstrative bu goes at the very front, creating the literal structure "this breed a cat".

Is cins acting as a noun or an adjective here?

Cins is inherently a noun meaning "breed", "kind", or "gender". However, Turkish frequently allows nouns to be placed directly before other nouns to act as modifiers. Here, it functions adjectivally to describe the type of cat.

What is the exact suffix breakdown for the past tense question var mıydı?

It breaks down as var (existent) + mı (question particle) + -y- (buffer consonant) + -dı (past tense). For existential sentences and noun predicates, the past tense always attaches to the question particle rather than the word itself. Saying vardı mı is grammatically incorrect.

Could we use a past form of olmak (like oldu mu) instead of var mıydı?