Turkish var and yok: There Is, There Isn't, and Have
How Turkish expresses existence with var and yok — why a location takes the locative, how possession works with no verb "to have", and how the question particle asks whether something is there.
Ekle ·
Turkish has no verb "to have" and no present-tense verb "to be" for existence: presence is var, absence is yok, and both are single, unchanging words that stand on their own.
How Turkish says there is and there is not
Where English reaches for a verb, Turkish uses one small word. Presence is var — "there is", "there are" — and absence is yok — "there is not". Both are complete on their own: they take no ending, they do not conjugate, and there is no infinitive behind them.
Where something is takes the locative
To say that something exists somewhere, the place is marked with the locative ending — the "in / on / at" suffix — and var or yok closes the sentence. masada kitap var is "there is a book on the table": masa becomes masada, "on the table", and var states that the book is there. Absence takes the same shape — evde kimse yok is "there is no one at home", with ev marked as evde and yok doing the work. Leaving the place bare — masa kitap var, ev kimse yok — is ungrammatical.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| masada kitap var | masa + da kitap var | there is a book on the table |
| evde kimse yok | ev + de kimse yok | there is no one at home |
Asking whether something exists
The yes-no question is a separate little word placed after var or yok. It harmonises with the vowel in front of it: var ends in the back unrounded a, so it takes mı — var mı, "is there?"; yok ends in the back rounded o, so it takes mu — yok mu, "isn't there?". The particle stands as its own word and never fuses onto var or yok.
| Word | Question particle | Question |
|---|---|---|
| var | mı | var mı |
| yok | mu | yok mu |
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| var mı | var mı | is there? |
| yok mu | yok mu | isn't there? |
Presence and absence side by side
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| masada kitap var | masa + da kitap var | there is a book on the table |
| evde kimse yok | ev + de kimse yok | there is no one at home |
| arabam yok | araba + m yok | I have no car |
Two ways of saying no
Turkish has two separate ways of saying "no", and they are not interchangeable. yok denies that something exists at all: evde kimse yok means "there is no one at home". değil denies that a thing is something — it negates identity and description, so evde değil means "he is not at home", said of a particular person who exists but is elsewhere. Negating existence with değil — var değil — is wrong; the language already has one word for that, yok.
- yok — there is none. Existence is denied.
- değil — is not so. Identity or description is denied.
- var değil is never used; yok carries the whole meaning.
Saying you have something
Turkish has no verb "to have". To say you own something, you mark the thing with a possessive ending and then state that it exists: kitabım var is literally "my book exists" and is the ordinary way to say "I have a book". Absence works the same way — arabam yok, "I have no car" — and to ask, you simply add the question particle: param var mı, "do I have any money?".
The owner can be spelled out for emphasis with a genitive pronoun and bir, "a": benim bir kitabım var means "I have a book", with benim making the "I" explicit. The pronoun is optional; the possessive ending on the noun already carries who the owner is.
| Turkish | Parts | English |
|---|---|---|
| kitabım var | kitab + ım var | I have a book |
| benim bir kitabım var | ben + im bir kitab + ım var | I have a book |
| param var mı | para + m var mı | do I have any money? |
Pointing at the past
To place existence in the past, var and yok take a past-tense ending: vardı is "there was" and yoktu is "there was not". The machinery behind that ending — the past copula and its harmony — is a later topic; for now it is enough to recognise vardı and yoktu as the past of var and yok.
Frequently asked questions
- What is the difference between var and yok in Turkish?
- var states that something exists — "there is", "there are" — and yok states that it does not — "there is not". They are the positive and negative of one idea and are complete words on their own: masada kitap var means "there is a book on the table", and evde kimse yok means "there is no one at home".
- How do you say 'to have' in Turkish?
- Turkish has no verb "to have". You mark the thing owned with a possessive ending and say that it exists: kitabım var is literally "my book exists" and means "I have a book", while arabam yok means "I have no car". To ask, add the question particle: param var mı, "do I have any money?".
- How do you ask 'is there?' in Turkish?
- Add the yes-no particle after var or yok. It harmonises with the preceding vowel, so var takes mı — var mı, "is there?" — and yok takes mu — yok mu, "isn't there?". The particle is a separate word and does not attach to var or yok.
- When do I use yok and when do I use the negator for 'is not'?
- yok negates existence — it says something is not there at all, as in evde kimse yok, "there is no one at home". değil negates identity or description, saying a thing is not something: evde değil means "he is not at home". Existence is never negated with değil; var değil is wrong, and yok is the word.