In Turkish basic pronouns are divided into two categories
(1) Stand-alone Pronouns Ben gidiyorum - I am going.
(2) Pronouns in suffix form (extended words). Gidiyorum [gidiyor-um] - 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 understand instead of Yo comprendo - I understand. However they are used in their extended forms when suffixes are added for all those important little words - to, from, with, etc.
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| ben - I | biz - we |
| sen - you - [familiar] | siz - you - [plural and formal singular] |
| o - He, she, it | onlar - they |
gidiyorum - I'm going - but emphasized - ben gidiyorum - I am going
kaldık - we stayed - but emphasized - biz kaldık - We stayed
| The First Person Singular | The First Person Plural |
|---|---|
| ben - I | biz - we |
| bana - to me - [irregular - NOT bene] | bize - to us |
| benim - of me, my - [irregular - NOT benin] | bizim - our - [irregular - NOT bizimiz] |
| beni - me (obj.) | bizi - us (obj.) |
| bende - on me | bizde - on us |
| benden - from me | bizden - from us |
| benimle or benle - with me | bizimle or bizle- with us |
| The Second Person Singular (familiar) | The Second Person Plural (polite/formal/public) |
|---|---|
| sen - you | siz - you |
| sana - to you - (irregular) - [NOT sene] | size - to you |
| senin - of you, your | sizin - your |
| seni - you (obj.) | sizi - you (obj.) |
| sende - on you | sizde - on you |
| senden - from you | sizden - from you |
| seninle or senle - with you | sizinle or sizle - with you |
| The Third Person Singular | The Third Person Plural |
|---|---|
| o - he, she, it | onlar - they |
| ona - to him, her, it - | onlara - to them |
| onun - of him, his, her, its | onların - their |
| onu - him, her, it (obj.) | onları - them (obj.) |
| onda - on him, her,it | onlarda - on them |
| ondan - from him, her, it | onlardan - from them |
| onunla or onla - with him, her, it | onlarla - with them |
The Third person spelling changes, all extended forms of - o - use buffer letter -n-. The third person singular pronoun - o - he, she, it - adds letter -n- to become - on- when adding further suffixes. The third person plural is also irregular becoming - onlar - they.
When adding the -le/-la suffix ben(im)le, sen(in)le, on(un)la, biz(im)le, siz(in)le are alternatives. The third person plural onlarla is the only alternative, however. It is not correct to say onlarınla.
The personal pronouns show some changes in spelling (irregularities):
ben - I - takes the following irregular forms:
to me - becomes - bana - [NOT bene].
of me, my - becomes - benim - [NOT - benin].
biz - we - takes the following irregular:
of us, our - becomes - bizim - [NOT - bizimiz].
sen - you (sing.) - takes the following irregular form:
to you (singular) - becomes - sana - [NOT - sene].
It seems that these changes have naturally occurred over a period of historical daily usage.
The main use for the Personal Pronouns is to extend them with all the important little words - to, from, with etc. , which of course are suffixes in Turkish.
| Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| bana | to me | bize | to us |
| sana | to you | size | to you |
| ona | to him, to her , to it | onlara | to them |
Notice that the first and second person singular forms are bana and sana - they are irregular - bene and sene - would have been expected. This is a shift that has happened historically but some of the Turkic Languages have not made this Vowel Shift so - bene and sene - are used in the Kazakh and Uzbek tongues.
Bana onu verin - Give it to me [This can also mean - "Give that to me." - as - o - translates as both - he/she/it - and as a demonstrative pronoun - that yonder]
Onlara bakınız - Look at them. - [lit: towards them.]
Bize inanıyorlar - They believe us. - [lit: believe to us.]
Note that the word - inanmak - to believe - takes the Dative Case as its Object - hence Turkish says - bize inanın - believe to us. Whereas English uses the direct object for the verb - to believe - thus we say - Believe us. We also have certain verbs in English that do not take the Direct object case - as in - "I am frightened OF the dark."
| With the -de -da Static Condition suffix - in, on, at | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| bende | in, on,at me | bizde | on us |
| sende | on you | sizde | on you |
| onda | on him, on her, on it | onlarda | on 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]
| With the -den -dan Movement Away suffix - from, via, movement away | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| benden | from me | bizden | from us |
| senden | from you | sizden | from you |
| ondan | from him, her ,it | onlardan | from 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]
| With the -in -ın -un -ün Ownership suffix - of, belonging to | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| benim | my, of me | bizim | our, of us |
| senin | your, of you | sizin | your, of you |
| onun | his, hers, its, of him. | onların | their, of them |
Benim şemsiyemi [şemsiye-m-i] alabilirsiniz. - You can take my umbrella. -
[şemsiye-m-i] - "my umbrella" as a Direct Object.
Senin araban yeni mi? - Is your car new?
Onların arabası eskidir. - Their car is old.
| With the -i -ı -u -ü Objective suffix which signifies the Direct Object | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| beni | me | bizi | us |
| seni | you | sizi | you |
| onu | him, her, it | onları | them |
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]
We have to realize that in English we make both the Subject and Object of a sentence substantive by the use of the same Definite Article - "the.":
"The man closed the door". We have learnt elsewhere that the Subject is already understood as substantive in Turkish - so it does not need a Definite Article - in fact the Subject Definite Article - "the" - does not exist in Turkish, there is no "THE man..". However there is an Object Definite Article - "the" in Turkish which appears (according to vowel harmony rules) as the suffix -(y)i - "Adam kapıyı kapattı" - "The man closed the door"
This Direct Object Suffix which makes the Object substantive is one of the most difficult hurdles for English speakers to surmount when speaking, reading and understanding The Turkish Language.
| With the -le -la (ile) suffix - with, and, together with | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | ||
| ben(im)le | with me | biz(im)le | with us |
| sen(in)le | with you | siz(in)le | with you |
| on(un)la | with him, her, it. | onlarla | with them |
When adding the -le/-la suffix ben(im)le, sen(in)le, on(un)la, biz(im)le, siz(in)le are alternatives. The third person plural onlarla is the only alternative, however. It is not correct to say onlarınla.
The preferred version is added to the genitive -in form of the pronouns, not directly to the root pronoun - except for the third person plural - onlarla - with them [not "onlarınla"]
Examples with the -le suffix:
Mehmet, benimle geldi. - Mehmet came with me. Mehmet and I came. - [ben-im-le - with me or and I]
Mustafa, bizimle kalacak - Mustapha will stay with us.. - [biz-im-le - with us]
Ali, onlarla geldi mi? - Did Ali come with them? - [onlar-la - with them - see exception note below]
For the preferred version the -le or -la - with - suffix is added to the Genitive Form of Pronouns. - Except for the third person plural which retains the basic form - onlarla - with them
As an adjective kendi means own
kendi bahçem - my own garden
kendi evin - your own house
-the person agrees with the thing which is owned - kendi arabaları - their own car - [kendi araba-ları]
| The suffixed kendi - self - Personalised Forms | |
|---|---|
| kendim - myself | kendimiz - ourselves |
| kendin - yourself (familiar) | kendiniz - yourselves (yourself - polite form) |
| kendi(si) - himself/herself/itself | kendileri - themselves |
Note that the third person singular is almost always in the short form - kendi - as the -si suffix is dropped in use.
kendime - to myself
kendinden - from yourself
kendinde or kendisinde - on himself - the -si suffix IS USED when further suffixes are added to kendi(si)
kendimizle - with ourselves
kendinizin - of yourselves
kendilerinden - from themselves
(a) Meaning myself, yourself, himself
Kendime bir bilgisayar aldım. - I bought a computer for myself.
Bence kendini biraz küçümsüyorsun. - I think you underestimate yourself a bit.
(b) Meaning own (as an adjective)
kendi evim or benim kendi evim - my own house
kendi düşüncesi - onun kendi düşüncesi - her own opinion
(c) Meaning on my own or 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).
(d) To give a formal impression, used for 3rd person singular and plural, always as kendisi or kendileri.
Size Mr. Jones'u takdim etmek istiyorum. Kendisi daha önce bir şirkette CEO olarak çalışıyordu. - I would like to present you Mr. Jones. He used to work [lit: was working before] as a CEO in a company. If we say o instead of kendisi it sounds a bit informal. kendisi suits the formal situation in a better way.
(e) Duplication of kendi. Has somewhat an adverbial meaning.
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 (meaning, I did not get any course or help of someone)
One should not confuse Reflexive Verbs with the usage of kendi. For example, I took a bath translates as Yıkandım in Turkish {Lit: I washed myself]. Yıkadım is I washed, and the -n serves as a suffix with a reflexive meaning. Yet, we don't say "Kendimi yıkadım.", we say directly Yıkandım. When we want to mean - I got wet., we don't say "Kendimi ısladım.", but we say Islandım.
The Personal Interrogative Pronoun - kim? - who?
The pronoun kim? - who? - has a plural in Turkish: kimler? - who? - whereas English makes do with one form who for both singular and plural.
| Singular | Meaning | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| kim | who? | kimler |
| kime | to whom? | kimlere |
| kimin | whose? | kimlerin |
| kimi | whom? (obj.) | kimleri |
| kimde | on whom? | kimlerde |
| kimden | from whom? | kimlerden |
| kiminle or kimle | with whom? | kimlerle |
Kimi gördünüz? - Whom did you see? - [Objective Singular]
Kimleri gördünüz? - Whom (what people) did you see? - [Objective Plural]
Arabayı kimlerden aldınız? - From whom (plural) 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?
The translation of - somebody. - [positive] is - biri, birisi (Paricular) - (singular) OR birileri - (plural) - in Turkish
nobody - [negative] is - kimse - in Turkish
anybody - [negative] is - kimse - in Turkish
anybody? - [positive or negative question] - is kimse in Turkish.
The word - kimse (which is used for both singular and plural) - is very much that same as - "personne" - in French, inasmuch as it can mean - nobody [negative] or anybody? [positive and negative questions] according to the sentence context.
These examples show that the word somebody in Turkish can be a singular somebody - biri, birisi or some plural somebodies - birileri;
Biri var., Birisi var., Birileri var - all mean - There is somebody there. - [Positive statement uses - somebody - in English.], and you are told whether it is a singular or plural sombody in Turkish.
Kimse var mı?, Kimseler var mı? - Is there anybody there? - [Positive question uses - anybody..? - in English.]
Kimse yok. - There is nobody there. - [Negative statement uses - nobody.. - in English.]
Kimse yok mu? - Isn't there anybody there? - [Negative question uses - anybody..? - in English.]
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.]
If the diminutive form - kimsecik, kimsecikler - is used with the negative as in - kimsecik yok - the the meaning becomes - nobody at all
Odanın içerisinde (or içinde) kimse var mı? - Is there anybody inside the room? [oda-nın içeri-si-nde = room-of inside-its-at - a Possessive Relationship]
Odada kimsecik (kimsecikler) yok. - There is nobody at all in the room. [oda-da - simply - the room-in]
Rules to remember - kimsecik, kimsecikler - is only used with negative verbs. The word and kimsecik, kimsecikler is invariable, it does not take any further suffixes.