Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

‘Where is Patagonia?’
Turkish: A comprehensive grammar 262
neresi is the form used when inquiring about a place itself, as opposed to the location of a
particular object or person:
(58) Bura-sı nere-si?
here-3SG.POSS where-3SG.POSS
‘Where are we?’ (lit. ‘What place is this?’)
neresi seeks as an answer a property or a characteristic that describes a location, rather
than the whereabouts of a place. For example the response to a question like (59) would
be a remark which contains a characteristic of Patagonia, such as Arjantin’in güneyinde
yarı kurak bir plato ‘[It is] a semiarid plateau in southern Argentina’:
(59) Patagonya nere-si?
where-3SG.POSS
‘What and where is Patagonia?’
The response to (57), on the other hand, is Arjantin’de ‘In Argentina’.
19.2.1.4 hangi ‘which’
hangi ‘which’ (15.6.2 (iii)) modifies a noun phrase:
(60) Ahmet hangi doktora güveniyor?
‘Which doctor does Ahmet trust?’
A noun phrase containing hangi is always marked with the accusative case when it is the
direct object:
(61) Hangi kitab-ı satın alacaksın?
which book-ACC
‘Which book will you buy?’
Like most determiners, hangi can be pronominalized (18.4) by the addition of a
possessive suffix:
(62) Kazanan hangisiydi?
‘Which of them (was the one who) won?’
(63) Hangi-ler-iniz-den para istediler?
which-PL-2PL.POSS-ABL
‘From which (ones) of you did they ask for money?’
hangi can be used with an ablative- or genitive-marked modifier (14.5.2 and 14.5.3),
including the ablative-marked forms of iç- or ara- ‘among’ (17.3.1.3):
(64) (Asistanlardan) hangisi bugün görevli?
‘Which one (of the assistants) is on duty today?’
(65) İçinizden/aranızdan hangisi bu işte gönüllü olarak çalışmak istiyor (sunuz)?
‘Which one among you would like to work as a volunteer?’