Pronouns
Six personal pronouns, no gender, a polite "you" that works like French vous, and — because the verb already carries the person — pronouns that are usually left out.
The six
| subject | object (acc.) | to (dat.) | of (gen.) | at (loc.) | from (abl.) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | ben | beni | bana | benim | bende | benden |
| you | sen | seni | sana | senin | sende | senden |
| he / she / it | o | onu | ona | onun | onda | ondan |
| we | biz | bizi | bize | bizim | bizde | bizden |
| you (pl. / polite) | siz | sizi | size | sizin | sizde | sizden |
| they | onlar | onları | onlara | onların | onlarda | onlardan |
Two irregulars: bana and sana (not *bene, *sene). The genitive of ben and biz is -im, not -in: benim, bizim. Everything else is the regular case endings from Nouns & gender, with n as the buffer after o.
Bende "at me" is how Turkish says "I have it (on me)": Anahtar bende. — "I've got the key."
O: he, she, it — and "that"
O öğretmen. — "He / she is a teacher." O kitap ne? — "What's that book?"
Context decides; nothing in the grammar does.
Sen and siz
| use | |
|---|---|
| sen | family, friends, children, people your age in casual settings, God |
| siz | strangers, elders, customers, your boss — and anyone plural |
Exactly the tu / vous split. Politeness also lives in titles that follow the first name: Ahmet Bey "Mr Ahmet", Ayşe Hanım "Ms Ayşe", and hocam "my teacher" for anyone you respect in an educated setting.
Drop them
The verb ending already says who:
Geliyorum. — "I'm coming." · Geldin mi? — "Did you come?" · Bilmiyoruz. — "We don't know."
Saying the pronoun adds contrast or emphasis:
Ben geliyorum, sen kal. — "I'll come; you stay."
Possessive endings
"My", "your" and so on are suffixes on the noun, in harmony with it:
| ev house | araba car | |
|---|---|---|
| my | evim | arabam |
| your | evin | araban |
| his / her / its | evi | arabası |
| our | evimiz | arabamız |
| your (pl. / polite) | eviniz | arabanız |
| their | evleri | arabaları |
The genitive pronoun is added only for emphasis: benim evim "MY house". Softening applies: kitap → kitabım, köpek → köpeğim.
Kendi: self
Kendi + possessive: kendim myself, kendin yourself, kendisi himself / herself. Kendi evim "my own house". Kendisi is also a polite way to refer to someone in the third person.
Demonstratives
bu this, şu that, o that (yonder) — plurals bunlar, şunlar, onlar, and the case forms carry an n: bunu, şuna, ondan.
Against Korean, Japanese and French
Like Korean and Japanese, Turkish leaves the subject unsaid; unlike them, it does not need to guess — the ending on the verb names the person, the way Spanish or Italian does. Siz is French vous exactly: plural and polite at once, with the plural verb ending even for one person.
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