All About Personal Pronouns
"I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they"
The Personal Pronouns are not used so widely as in English 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.
It 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." - which are discussed below.
Simple Personal Pronouns
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| ben - I | biz - we |
| sen - you - [familiar] | siz - you - [plural and formal singular] |
| o - He, she, it | onlar - they |
Examples of Emphasis
gidiyorum - I'm going - but emphasized - ben gidiyorum - I am going
kaldık - we stayed - but emphasized - biz kaldık - We stayed
Suffixed Pronouns
| 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 - with me | bizimle - 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 - with you | sizinle - 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 - with him, her, it | onlarla - with them |
Note: 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.
Some Irregularities
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.
Extended Forms of the Personal Pronouns
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.
Motion Toward Suffix -e/-a
| With the -a -e Motion Towards suffix - to, towards | |
|---|---|
| Singular | Plural |
| bana - to me sana - to you ona - to him, to her , to it |
bize - to us size - to you 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 Kahzhak and Uzbek tongues.
Examples With the -a -e suffix:
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 inanin - 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."
Static Suffix -de/-da
| With the -de -da Static Condition suffix - in, on, at | |
|---|---|
| Singular | Plural |
| bende - in, on,at me sende - on you onda - on him, on her , on it |
bizde - on us sizde - on you onlarda - on them |
Examples with the -de/-da suffix:
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]
Motion Away -den/-dan
| With the -den -dan Movement Away suffix - from, via, movement away | |
|---|---|
| Singular | Plural |
| benden - from me senden - from you ondan - from him, her ,it |
bizden - from us sizden - from you onlardan - from them |
Examples with the -den suffix:
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]
Ownership Suffix -in/-ın/-un/-ün
| With the -in -ın -un -ün Ownership suffix - of, belonging to | |
|---|---|
| Singular | Plural |
| benim - my, of me senin - your, of you onun - his, hers, its, of him.. |
bizim - our, of us sizin - your, of you onların - their, of them |
Examples with the -in suffix:
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.
Object Suffix -i/-ı/-u/-ü
| With the -i -ı -u -ü Objective suffix which signifies the Direct Object | |
|---|---|
| Singular | Plural |
| beni - me seni - you onu - him, her, it |
bizi - us sizi - you onları - them |
Examples with the -i Direct Object Suffix:
Mehmet, beni vurdu - Mehmet hit 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, by" Suffix -le/-la
| With the -le -la (ile) suffix - with, and, together with | |
|---|---|
| Singular | Plural |
| benimle - with me seninle - with you onunla - with him.. her.. it.. |
bizimle - with us sizinle - with you onlarla - with them |
Adding the -le -la suffix can be considered as an exception.
It 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]
- Note that 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
Reflexive Pronouns - kendi - "self/own"
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 reflexive pronoun is "kendi - self/own" to which the personal pronouns are suffixed as follows: | |
|---|---|
| kendim - myself | kendimiz - ourselves |
| kendin - yourself (familiar) | kendiniz - yourselves (yourself - poite form) |
| kendi(si) - himself/herself/itself | kendiler - themselves |
Note that the their person singular is almost always in the short form - kendi - as the -si suffix is dropped in use.
Kendi is also use in its extended (suffixed) forms:
kendime - to myself
kendinden - from yourself
kendide or kendisinde - on himself - the -si suffix IS USED when further suffixes are added to kendi(si)
kendimizle - with ourselves
kendinizin - of youselves
kendilerinden - from themselves
Interrogative - "who?" - kim
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 | who? (obj.) | kimleri |
| kimde | on who? | kimlerde |
| kimden | from whom? | kimlerden |
| kiminle | with who? | kimlerle |
Some Further Examples:
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 to?
Bu gözlük kimin? - Whose are these glasses?
Kiminle geldi? - Who did he come with?
Translation of - kimse -"somebody/anybody/anybody..? - nobody.."
The translation of - somebody. - [positive] is - biri - (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 - or - some plural "somebodies" - birileri;
Biri (birileri) var. - There is somebody there. - [Positive statement uses - somebody.. - in English.]
Kimse 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.]
Further Examples of Usage
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.]
Bu anda ofisinizde kimse yok mu? - Isn't there anybody in your office at the moment? - [Negative Question.]
Thanks to Nurcan Akaltun Çiftçi for corrections to the above section - JG - May 2008.
Special Case - the Diminutive Form - kimsecik
If the diminutive form - kimsecik - is used with the negative as in - kimsecik yok - the the meaning becomes - nobody at all...
Odanin içerinde (or içinde) kimse var mı? - Is there anybody inside the room? [oda-nin içeri-nde = room-of inside-its-at - a Possessive Relationship]
Odada kimsecik yok. - There is nobody at all in the room. [oda-da - simply - the room-in]
Rules to remember - kimsecik - is only used with negative verbs. The word and kimsecik is invariable, it does not take any further suffixes.
Double-Click anywhere for Top of Page