Turkish Question Particle mi / mı / mu / mü: Spelling, Placement & Person Endings

To turn a Turkish statement into a yes/no question, you add one small word: mi. It has four shapes (mi, mı, mu, mü), it is written separately, and it can carry the person ending of the verb. Geliyorsun means “you are coming”; Geliyor musun? means “Are you coming?” Word order stays the same, and there is no helper verb like English do or are.

This guide covers the spelling and vowel harmony of the particle, where to put it to question one specific word, and exactly where the person endings go in each tense.

Spelling: separate word, harmonising vowel

The particle is always written as a separate word, but its vowel follows the 4-way vowel harmony of the word in front of it, just like a suffix.

Three spelling points trip learners up:

• No apostrophe. Even after a proper name, the particle is a separate word: Ankara mı? (Is it Ankara?), not Ankara’mı.
• Endings join the particle. When a person ending follows, it is written together with mi: misin, mıyız, musunuz. Between the particle’s vowel and a vowel-initial ending you need the buffer letter y: mi + im → miyim, mu + uz → muyuz.
• Stress falls before it. The particle itself is unstressed; the syllable just before it carries the sentence stress: ge-li-YOR mu-sun?, KİTAP mı? This is why the particle “sounds” attached even though it is not.

Questions with “to be”: nouns and adjectives

With nouns and adjectives, the “to be” endings you know from personal pronouns and the verb to be move onto the particle.

• Öğretmen misiniz? — Are you a teacher? (formal)
• Yorgun musun? — Are you tired?
• Bu senin çantan mı? — Is this your bag?

The same pattern works with var and yok: Ekmek var mı? (Is there any bread?), Sorunuz var mı? (Do you have any questions?).

With verbs: where the person ending goes

This is the part worth memorising. Turkish has two families of person endings:

• Z-type endings (-im, -sin, —, -iz, -siniz, -ler) are used in the present continuous, future, aorist, reported past, necessitative and ability forms. In questions, these endings move onto mi.
• K-type endings (-m, -n, —, -k, -niz, -ler) are used in the past -di and the conditional -se. In questions, these endings stay on the verb, and mi comes last.

The third-person plural -ler/-lar always stays on the verb: geliyorlar mı?, geldiler mi?

Present continuous: geliyor musun?

Because -iyor always contains o, the particle is always mu here.

• Türkçe öğreniyor musun? — Are you learning Turkish?
• Bu otobüs Kadıköy’e gidiyor mu? — Does this bus go to Kadıköy?

See the present continuous tense for how the statement forms are built.

Future: gelecek misin?

Notice that the k of -ecek does not soften to ğ in the question: geleceğim (I will come) but gelecek miyim? The ending is no longer attached to gelecek, so nothing triggers the change. More on the statement forms in the future tense guide.

• Yarın bize gelecek misin? — Will you come to us tomorrow?
• Toplantı uzun sürecek mi? — Will the meeting last long?

Aorist: gelir misin?

The aorist question is the standard polite request in Turkish.

• Kapıyı açar mısınız? — Could you open the door?
• Bana yardım eder misin? — Would you help me?
• Çay içer misiniz? — Would you like some tea?
• Su ister misin? — Would you like some water?

The negative aorist question (gelmez misin?, istemez misin?) often works as a gentle invitation: Bize gelmez misin? — Won’t you come over to us?

Past -di: geldin mi?

Here the k-type ending stays on the verb and mi goes last.

• Kahvaltı yaptın mı? — Did you have breakfast?
• Paketim geldi mi? — Has my parcel arrived?

The definite past tense page has the full harmony table for -di.

Other forms at a glance

Gelsem mi? is a very common way to ask yourself or someone else “Shall I…?”: Bugün erken çıksam mı? — Should I leave early today?

Placement: questioning one word

By default the particle goes after the verb, and the whole statement is questioned. But you can put mi after any word to make that word the focus. The rest of the sentence is taken as given.

• Ali dün İzmir’e gitti mi? — Did Ali go to İzmir yesterday?
• Ali dün İzmir’e mi gitti? — Was it İzmir that Ali went to yesterday?
• Ali İzmir’e dün mü gitti? — Was it yesterday that Ali went to İzmir?
• Dün İzmir’e Ali mi gitti? — Was it Ali who went to İzmir yesterday?

The focused word usually sits directly before the verb, which is the natural focus position in Turkish (see word order).

Important: when mi is not on the verb, the verb keeps its own person ending.

• Sen mi geliyorsun? — Is it you who is coming?
• Yarın mı geleceksin? — Is it tomorrow that you’re coming?
• Kahve mi istiyorsunuz? — Is it coffee you want?

Choices, tags and negative questions

Either/or questions repeat the particle after each option:

• Çay mı kahve mi? — Tea or coffee?
• Bugün mü yarın mı gidiyoruz? — Are we going today or tomorrow?

Tag questions use değil mi? (“isn’t it?”, “right?”):

• Hava çok güzel, değil mi? — The weather is lovely, isn’t it?
• Yarın geliyorsun, değil mi? — You’re coming tomorrow, right?

Negative questions add mi after the negative verb: Gelmiyor musun? (Aren’t you coming?), Anlamadın mı? (Didn’t you understand?). For nouns, değil takes the particle and the person ending: Öğrenci değil misin? — Aren’t you a student?

Common mistakes

1. Writing it attached. Gelecekmisin is wrong; write gelecek misin.
2. Wrong harmony. Geliyor misin is wrong; the last vowel is o, so geliyor musun.
3. Doubling the person ending. Geliyorsun musun or geliyorsun mu is wrong; the ending moves: geliyor musun.
4. Moving k-type endings. Geldi misin is wrong; past endings stay on the verb: geldin mi.
5. Combining with question words. Nerede mi oturuyorsun? is wrong as a normal question; say Nerede oturuyorsun? See question words.

Mini-exercise

Turn each statement into a question addressed to the person in brackets.

1. Türkçe konuşuyor. (sen) → ?
2. Yarın gelecek. (siz) → ?
3. Dün sinemaya gittim. (sen) → ?
4. Yorgunum. (sen) → ?
5. Kapıyı açar. (siz, polite request) → ?
6. Focus on the place: Ali Ankara’ya gidiyor. → ?

Answers

1. Türkçe konuşuyor musun? — Do you speak Turkish?
2. Yarın gelecek misiniz? — Will you come tomorrow?
3. Dün sinemaya gittin mi? — Did you go to the cinema yesterday?
4. Yorgun musun? — Are you tired?
5. Kapıyı açar mısınız? — Could you open the door?
6. Ali Ankara’ya mı gidiyor? — Is it Ankara that Ali is going to?

Practice this

Pick a verb in the verb conjugator and say each form aloud as a question, putting the person ending on mi where it belongs. Then try the same with the past tense and notice how the ending stays on the verb.