Indirect Sentence in Turkish (For Question Sentence / Soru Cümlesi için)
In this lesson, you can learn how to turn direct sentence into indirect sentence in Turkish. Attention! Indirect sentences change according to different tenses. In this lesson, you will learn the structure of the indirect question sentence in Turkish. In other words Türkçede dolaylı soru cümlesi. But first of all, what are direct and indirect sentences? Let’s remember this.
Dolaysız Cümle (Direct Sentence): It is the giving of a word as it is said, without any change. A person’s views and opinions on any subject are given without any changes. This sentence is usually written in quotation marks. We use the verb “diye sordu” instead of “asked” at the end of a direct sentence.
⇒Selma, bana “Daha önce İstanbul’a hiç gittin mi?“ diye sordu.
(Selma asked “Have you ever been to Istanbul before?”)
Dolaylı Cümle: (Indirect Sentence): This is a sentence with some changes, not the same sentence as said. It is the indirect transfer of a word by the speaker or the writer with a slight modification. We use the verb “sordu” instead of “said” at the end of a direct sentence.
⇒Selma, bana daha önce İstanbul’a gidip gitmediğimi sordu.
(Selma asked me if I had been to Istanbul before.)
How To Make Indirect Sentence in Turkish? (For Question Sentence / Soru Cümlesi için)
As you know, we can make question sentences in Turkish in two different ways. 1. We do it by using the question suffix “mı, mi, mu, mü”. 2. We can form question sentences with question phrases such as “hangi, kim, ne, kaç, neresi…”. We construct these two types in indirect sentence structures differently. Let’s start with the first one!
The Rule For Sentences With “mı, mi, mu, mü”
Fiil Cümlelerinde (In Verb Sentences): We use the verb twice and suffixes you see down below. And of course we add the phrase“sordu, soruyor …” (asked, soruyor…) to the end!
İsim Cümlelerinde (In noun Sentences): We add the verb “ol” (to be) after the noun. And the choose correct possesive suffix according to subject of the sentence. And add the verb “sordu, soruyor …” (asked, soruyor…) to the end!
Direct Sentence: Emine hoca, “Ödevinizi yaptınız mı?” diye sordu.
Indirect Sentence: Emine hoca, ödevi yapıp yapmadığımızı sordu.
Direct Sentence: Hoca, size “Konuyu anladınız mı?” diye sordu.
Indirect Sentence: Hoca, size konuyu anlayıp anlamadığınızı sordu.
Direct Sentence: Annem, kardeşime “Yemeğini yedin mi?” diye sordu.
Indirect Sentence: Annem, kardeşime yemeğini yiyip yemediğini sordu.
Direct Sentence: Parktaki kadın, ona “Sen anne misin?” diye sordu.
Indirect Sentence: Parktaki kadın, ona anne olup olmadığını sordu.
Direct Sentence: Hoca, bana “Ahmet okulda mı?” diye sordu.
Indirect Sentence: Hoca, bana Ahmet’in okulda olup olmadığını sordu.
The Rule For Sentences With “kim, ne, ne zaman, nerede, neden, nasıl, ne zaman, hangi …?“
Fiil Cümlelerinde (In Verb Sentences): We do indirect sentence in Turkish by adding some suffixes to the end of the verb in the quoted sentence. Whoever is doing the verb (that is, the subject of the quoted sentence) we do it by using the possessive suffix appropriate to the subject of the sentence. And we add the verb “sordu, soruyor …” (asked, soruyor…) to the end! In the table below, you can see how the possessive suffixes change according to the person.
İsim Cümlelerinde (In noun Sentences): We add “ol” (to be) after the question phrase at the end of the sentence. And we add the possessive suffix appropriate to the subject of the sentence to the verb “ol”. And add the verb “sordu, soruyor …” (asked, soruyor…) to the end!
Direct Sentence: Hoca, Ali’ye “Neden ödevlerini yapmadın?” diye sordu.
Indirect Sentence: Hoca, Ali’ye neden ödevlerini yapmadığını sordu.
Direct Sentence: Babam, eve geç döndüğümü görünce “Nereden geliyorsun?” diye sordu.
Indirect Sentence: Babam, eve geç döndüğümü görünce nereden geldiğimi sordu.
Direct Sentence: Telefonuna cevap vermeyince “Kiminle konuşuyorsun?” diye soruyor.
Indirect Sentence: Telefonuna cevap vermeyince kiminle konuştuğumu soruyor.
Direct Sentence: “Zile basan kimmiş?” diye soruyor.
Indirect Sentence: Zile basanın kim olduğunu soruyor.
Direct Sentence: Uyanınca direkt “Bu harika yer neresi böyle?!” diye sordu.
Indirect Sentence: Uyanınca direkt bu harika yerin neresi olduğunu sordu.
Click on the lessons you need to know below and learn how to make indirect sentences for other tenses!
Indirect Sentence in Turkish (For Present Continious, Present Perfect, Past Tense)
Indirect Sentence in Turkish (For Future Tense)
Indirect Sentence in Turkish (For Gereklilik Kipi / Necessity)
Indirect Sentence in Turkish (Imperative Sentence / Emir Cümlesi)
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