Turkish Personal Pronouns - 'I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they' (2024)

Turkish Personal Pronouns -"I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they"

Turkish Personal Pronouns -"I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they"

In Turkish the Personal Pronouns are two categories:

(1) Stand-alone Pronouns:
Ben gidiyorum.I am going.

(2) Pronouns in suffix form:
Gidiyorum.I am going.

The stand-alone personal pronouns are not used widely as the person is evident from the personal verb ending.

They are used for emphasis only in their simple form as the verb form itself already points to the person.

This is similar to Spanish where a person will say"comprendo" I understandinstead of"Yo comprendo"

Stand-alone are used in their extended forms:

bendeon me
sizinof you
bizdenfrom us

when suffixesto, from, with, etc.are added to them.

Turkish Simple Personal Pronouns List

• Stand Alone Personal Pronoun


• benI


• senyou[familiar]


• oHe, she, it


• bizwe


• sizyou[formal]


• onlarthey

Emphasis of the Turkish Personal Pronoun

When the pronoun needs to be emphasized the stand-alone version is used together with the personal suffixed verb tense form.

gidiyorumI'm going
emphasized →
bengidiyorumIam going

kaldıkwe stayed
emphasized →
bizkaldıkwestayed

Turkish Suffixed Pronouns

These suffixed forms are used to show extended meaning pronoun within a sentence.

The Third person spelling changes. All extended forms ofouse buffer letter when adding suffixes.

he, she, itadds letter-n-→
o-nu, o-nahim , to him

The third person plural is also irregular becomingonlarthey.

Extended Forms Turkish Personal Pronouns

The main use for the Personal Pronouns is to extend them with suffixesto, from, with etc.

Tukish Motion Toward Suffix(dative)-e /-ato, towards

Personal pronouns show some changes in spelling have naturally occurred in the Turkish language:

• Motion Toward Suffix


• banato me
  [NOT bene.]


• sanato you
  [NOT sene.]


• onato him, to her, to it


• bizeto us
  [NOT bizimiz.]


• sizeto you


• onlarato them

These forms are irregularbana, sanawherebene, senewould have been expected.

This is a shift that has happened historically.

TheKazakhandUzbekTurkic languages have not made this vowel shift.

• Bana onu verin.Give it / that to me


• Onlara bakınız.Look at them.
  [LIT: towards them.]


• Bize inanıyorlar.They believe us.
  [LIT: believe to us.]

Turkish saysbize inanınbelieve to us

The wordinanmakto believetakes the "movement toward condition" as its object.

English uses the direct object for the verbBelieve us.

Some other verbs in English that do not take the direct object case:
"I am frightenedOFthe dark."

Turkish Static Condition Suffix(locative)-de/-dain, on, at

• Static Condition suffix


• bendein, on,at me


• sendeon you


• ondaon him, on her, on it


• bizdeon us


• sizdeon you


• onlardaon them


• Bende para yok.I've got no money.
  [LIT: on me]


• Sende para var mı?Have you got any money?
  [LIT: on you]


• Bizde para var mı?Have we got any money?
  [LIT: on us]

Turkish Motion Away Suffix(ablative)-den/-danfrom, via

• Motion Away Suffix


• bendenfrom me


• sendenfrom you


• ondanfrom him, her ,it


• bizdenfrom us


• sizdenfrom you


• onlardanfrom them


• Benden bir şemsiye alabilirsiniz.
  You can have an umbrella off me.
  [lit: from me]


• Senden bir sigara alır mıyım?
  Can I have a cigarette off you?
  [lit: take from you]


• Ondan korkuyorum
  I am frightened of him
  [lit: frightened from him]

Turkish Ownership Suffix-in/-ın/-un/-ünof, belonging to

• Ownership Suffix


• benimmy, of me


• seninyour, of you


• onunhis, hers, its, of him.


• bizimour, of us


• sizinyour, of you


• onlarıntheir, of them


• Benim şemsiyemi[şemsiye-m-i]alabilirsiniz.
  You can take my umbrella.


• Senin araban yeni mi?
  Is your car new?


• Onların arabası eskidir.
  Their car is old.

Turkish Direct Object Suffix-i -ı -u -ü"the"

• Direct Object Suffix.


• benime


• seniyou


• onuhim, her, it


• bizius


• siziyou


• onlarıthem


• Mehmet, beni vurdu.
  Mehmet shot me.
  [ben-i "me" as a direct object]


• Ali, arabanı onardı mı?
  Did Ali repair your car?
  [araba-n-ı "your car" as a direct object]


• Mustafa, onu yaptı
  Mustapha did it.
  [on-u "it" as a direct object]

Turkish"with"suffix-le -la (ile)suffix"with, and, together"

• "with, via" Suffix


• ben(im)lewith me


• sen(in)lewith you


• on(un)lawith him, her, it.


• biz(im)lewith us


• siz(in)lewith you


• onlarlawith them

-le -lasuffix can be considered as an alternative.

The preferred version is added to the genitive-inform of the pronouns.

ben(im)le, sen(in)le, on(un)la, biz(im)le, siz(in)leare alternatives.

The third person pluralonlarlawith themis the only alternative.

It is not correct to sayonlarınla

• Mehmet, benimle geldi.
  Mehmet came with me.


• Mustafa, bizimle kalacak.
  Mustapha will stay with us.


• Ali, onlarla geldi mi?
  Did Ali come with them?

The Reflexive Pronounkendiself/own

As an adjectivekendimeansown

The person agrees with the thing which is owned:

• kendi bahçemmy own garden


• kendi evinyour own house


• kendi arabalarıtheir own car
  [kendi araba-ları]

The suffixedkendiselfPersonalized Forms

• The Reflexive Pronoun


• kendimmyself


• kendin[familiar]yourself


• kendi(si)himself / herself / itself


• kendimizourselves


• kendinizyourselvesAlso:yourself[formal]


• kendilerithemselves

The third person singular is almost always in the short form:
kendias the-sisuffix is dropped in use.

Kendiis also use in its extended (suffixed) forms:

• Reflexive Pronoun Extended


• kendimeto myself


• kendindenfrom yourself


• kendindeorkendisindeon himself


• kendimizlewith ourselves


• kendinizinof yourselves


• kendilerindenfrom themselves

The-sisuffixIS USEDwhen further suffixes are addedtokendi(si)

Usage ofkendiself

Kendiis used in many different contexts, especially for emphasis:

• Kendimeaningmyself, yourself, himself


• Kendime bir bilgisayar aldım.
  I bought a computer for myself.


• Bence kendini biraz küçümsüyorsun.
  I think you underestimate yourself a bit.


• Kendimeaningown, as an adjective.


• kendi evimorbenim kendi evim
  my own house


• kendi düşüncesioronun kendi düşüncesi
  her own opinion


• Kendimeaningon my ownor in order to emphasize the subject.


• Bu resmi ben kendim yaptım.
  I made this picture on my own.(by myself).


• Bunu biz kendimiz düşündük.
  We thought that on our own.(by ourselves).


• Kendigiving the meaning of a formal impression:


• Size bay Sarıkurt'u takdim etmek istiyorum.
  I would like to present you Mr. Sarikurt.


• Kendisi daha önce bir şirkette CEO olarak çalışıyordu.
  He used to work as a CEO in a company.

This version is used for 3rd person singular and plural, always askendisiorkendileri.

The use of the formal addressingkendisihimself

This usage is constantly used in newpaper reports and television interviews.

• Duplication ofkendi kendias an adverb is used to describe verbs:


• Bilgisayar bozuktu. Ama daha sonra kendi kendine çalıştı.The computer had broken down. But then, it worked by itself.


• Kendi kendime konuşuyorum.I am talking to myself.


• Türkçe'yi kendi kendime öğrendim.I learned Turkish by myself/on my own

• Do not confuse reflexive verbs with the use ofkendi:


• I had a wash.translates asYıkandım.in Turkish[LIT: I washed myself]


• The Reflexive VerbYıkanmakto wash onselfis used.


• [Kendimi yıkadım. is WRONG.]
  The reflexive verb form:Yıkandım.is CORRECT.


• I got wet.[Kendimi ısladım is WRONG.]
  The reflexive verb form:Islandım.is CORRECT.

Turkish Interrogative Personal Pronounwho?, whom?kim?, kimler?

The pronounkim?who?has a plural in Turkish:kimler?who?

Englishwhois both singular or plural within its context.

Turkish Interrogative Pronoun Exampleskimwho

• Kimi gördünüz?
  Whom did you see?
  [Objective Singular]


• Kimleri gördünüz?
  Whom (what people) did you see?
  [Objective Plural]


• Arabayı kimlerden aldınız?
  From whom did you buy the car?


• Parayı kime verdiniz?
  To whom did you give the money?


• Bu gözlük kimin?
  Whose are these glasses?


• Kiminle geldi?
  Whom did he come with?

Turkish Impersonal Pronounbirisomebody

• birisi(singular particular)somebody


• birileri(plural)somebody

The wordsomebodyin Turkish can be a singular:
somebodybiri, birisi
or pluralsomebodiesbirileri

biri var, birisi var birileri varall meanThere is somebody there.

Positive statements usesomebodyin English
in Turkish it may be a pluralbirileri"somebodies"

Turkish Negative Impersonal Pronounkimseanybody, nobody

Turkishkimseis similar to the French"personne"

It can be negative, positive or interrogative meaningsomebody, anybody or anybody?

The meaning ofkimsecan be singular or plural.

Turkish has no such word as "kimseler."

• nobodykimse[negative]


• anybodykimse[negative]


• anybody?kimse[positive or negative question]


• kimsecan take a suffix:


• Kimseye[kimse-ye]anlatmam!
  I will not tell anybody!


• Kimse var mı? Kimseler var mı?
  Is there anybody there?


• Kimse yok.
  There is nobody there.


• Kimseden aldin mi?Did you get it from anybody?


• Şimdiden evde biri (birileri) olmalı.
  There must be somebody at home by now.
[Positive Statement.]


• Saat sekizde parkta kimse görünmedi.
  At eight o'clock there was nobody to be seen in the park.
  [Negative Statement.]


• Saat sekizde parkta kimse var mıydı?
  Was there anybody in the park at eight o'clock?
  [Positive Question.]


• Şu anda ofisinizde kimse yok mu?
  Isn't there anybody in your office at the moment?
  [Negative Question.]

Turkish Diminutive Formkimsecikkimsecikler

kimsecik, kimsecikleris only used with the negative:
kimsecik yokthe the meaning becomesnobody at all

• Odanın içerisinde / içinde kimse var mı?
  Is there anybody inside the room?


• Odada kimsecik / kimsecikler yok.
  There is nobody at all in the room.

kimsecik / kimsecikleris only used with negative verbs.

It is invariable and cannot be suffixed.