Totally Turkish - Var/Yok - Learn Turkish Online

'There is...'
- To say 'there is....', or to say that something exists we use the word 'var' after the word.

'There isn't...'
- To say 'there is....' or to say that something doesn't exist we use the word 'yok' after the word.

examples

araba var = there is a car
odada bir masa var = there is a table in the room

kedi yok = there isn't a cat
masada bir kitap yok = there isn't a book on the table

We can also use the words 'var' and 'yok' to show that we have something. We do this by adding the word after a possessive sentence.

The literal translation into English of this would be 'my ...... exists' or 'my ...... doesn't exist'.

examples
kedi = cat
kedim = my cat
benim kedim var = i have a cat (my cat exists)

senin evin var = you have a house
onun araba yok = he doesn't have a car

Past

To say 'there was.....' or 'there wasn't.....', we must use 'var' or 'yok' in the past tense by adding the past suffix '-di'. This will then change to vowel harmony to become;

'vardı' and 'yoktu'

examples

araba vardı = there was a car
araba yoktu = there wasn't a car

Asking questions with 'var' and 'yok'

To ask a question, for example 'is there a car?', we must add the question marker.

'.....var mı?' = 'is there......?'
'.......yok mu?' = 'isn't there.......?'

examples
is there a car? = araba var mı?
is there not a car? = araba yok mu?
bahçede kedi var mı? = is there a cat in the garden?
senin kedin var mı? = do you have a cat?
onun kalemi yok mu? = doesn't he have a pen?

Click here to test yourself on this section.