Statements in Mvskoke generally end in -es (-s after a vowel or diphthong). Questions take different endings and can be divided into several types.

• YES/NO QUESTIONS seek a simple yes or no answer.
• WH-QUESTIONS are questions that use question words like nake ‘what’ or esti ‘who’.

Yes/no questions

• Yes/no questions use -v after a consonant and nothing after a vowel.

• A different marker -te is used after nouns or adjectives. It’s the same as -t owv?
  

  Efvt owv?	‘Is it a dog?’     →      Efv te?
  Lvstēt owv?	‘Is it black?’     →      Lvstē te?

• The marker te is also used after future -vrē and distant past -vtē.
  

  Mēcvrē te?	‘Will he/she do it?’
  Mēcvtē te?	‘Did he/she do it (very long ago)?’

• A third marker -ehą has a sense of possibility (often translated as ‘should’, ‘can’, or ‘could’).
  

  Nēsvyv?   ‘Am I buying it?	Nēsihą? ‘Should I buy it?’
  Vnnēsetskv?   ‘Are you buying it for me?	Vnnēsetskehą? ‘Can you buy it for me?’

Wh-questions

• While yes/no questions generally end in -v, wh-questions generally end in -a (or nothing after a vowel).

• In English, question words generally appear at the beginnings of sentences. In Mvskoke, they appear in their normal position (wherever the answer would appear).

Here are the most common question words.

• The word nake means ‘what’. Use naket for a subject and naken for an object.

• estimv, esti ‘who’. Estimvt is used for a subject, and estimvn is used for an object of the verb. Estimv is also used for ‘whose’.

• estvmi ‘where’. Usually this word ends in -n.

• estvmimv ‘where’ is also used, but is more specific (‘where exactly’).

• estvn ‘which, which one, where’. This word can be used after a noun to mean ‘which’.

It can also be used without a noun (translating as ‘which one’ or ‘which’).

Estvn can also be used to mean ‘which place’ or ‘where’.

• estowaten, estowan ‘which’. The word estowaten or its short form estowan is used after a noun to mean ‘which’.

This word can also be used by itself.

• estofvn ‘when’.

To ask about a time in the recent past (earlier today or last night), you can use estofisēn ‘when was it (Past 1)’.

To ask about a time before last night, you can use estofvnkēn ‘when was it (Past 2-5)’.

The following form is also used.

• nvcowen, nvcowēn ‘how many/much’. Nvcowen or nvcowēn means ‘how many (things)’ or ‘how much (of a thing)’.

A related form nvcowat ‘how much of it’ is also used.

These words can appear after nouns (svtv nvcowen ceyaca? ‘how many apples do you want?’) or by themselves (nvcowen ceyaca? ‘how many do you want?’).

It is also possible to use this word as a verb.

• estowēn ‘how’. Estowēn is used to mean ‘how’.

• nak ’stowen ‘why’. The phrase nak ’stowen or naket estowen means ‘why’. The phrase seems to mean ‘what is happening (that something else happens)’. It’s a little like saying ‘how come’ in English.

• hvse-vkērkv nvcowat ‘what time’. This phrase is literally ‘how many clocks/hours’.

Sometimes nvcowat is used by itself where the context is clear.

Pakse nvcowat mahen vtotketvn ceyaca?   ‘About what time do you want to work tomorrow?’

• nettv estofvnkēn ‘what day was it’. Nettv estofvn is used to ask ‘what day of the week’ something happens or will happen. To ask about the past, nettv estofvnkēn ‘what day was it’ is used.

• ohrolopē estofvn ‘what year’. Ohrolopē estofvn is used to ask ‘what year’ something will happen. Ohrolopē estofvnkē is used for the past.
• nettv nvcowat ‘what date’. Nettv nvcowat (literally, ‘how many days’) is used to ask about a specific date.

Indefinites: nake ‘what, something, anything’

• Some question words can also be used as indefinite words like something, anything, etc.