TURKISH LESSON - Personal Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

All About Personal Pronouns - I, you, he, 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. 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.

Personal Pronouns - The Simple Forms

The Personal Pronouns are usually only used for emphasis 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

Singular	Plural
ben - I sen - you - familiar o - He, she, it	biz - we siz -you - plural and polite singular 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

The Extended Forms of Personal Pronouns

These extended forms are discussed in detail in the next section of this webpage.

The personal pronouns show some changes in spelling:

The first person singular - ben - I - takes the following irregular forms:
to me becomes bana - (NOT bene).
of me, my - becomes - benim - (NOT benin).
of us, our - becomes - bizim - (NOT bizin).
to you (singular) - becomes - sana - (NOT sene).

The Singular Forms	The Plural Forms
The First Person Singular	The First Person Plural
ben - I	biz - we
bana - to me - (irregular)	bize - to us
benim - of me, my (irregular - NOT benin)	bizim - our (irregular) - NOT bizin
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)
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
All extended forms of - o - use buffer letter -n-* as below)*
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

Third Person Spelling Changes

The Third Person Singular Ponoun - o - he, she, it - adds letter -n- to become - on- when adding further suffixes.
The Third Person Plural is also irregular becoming - onlar - they.

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.

With the -a -e suffix - to, towards
Singular bana - to me sana - to you ona - to him, to her , to it	Plural 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.

Some Examples With the -a -e suffix
Bana onu verin - Give that to me
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."

With the addition of -de -da suffix - in, on, at

All the pronouns retain their regular form when adding the -de/-da suffix.

With the -da -de suffix - in, on, at
Singular bende - in, on,at me sende - on you onda - on him, on her , on it	Plural 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

With the addition of -den -dan suffix - from, by, via

All the pronouns retain their regular form when adding the -den/-dan suffix

With the -dan -den suffix - from, via, movement away
Singular benden - from me senden - from you ondan - from him, her ,it	Plural 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

With the addition of -in suffix - of, belonging to

Note that the First Person Singular - benim - and First Person Plural - bizim - are both irregular as - benin - and - bizin - would have been expected.

With the -in -ın suffix - of, belonging to
Singular benim - my, of me senin - your, of you onun - his, hers, its, of him..	Plural bizim - our, of us sizin -your, of you onların - their, of them

Examples with the -in suffix

Benim şemsiyemi alabilirsiniz. - You can take my umbrella.
şemsiye-m-i - my umbrella - as a Direct Object (see below).
Senin araban yeni mi? - Is your car new?
Onların arabası eskidir. - Their car is old.

With the addition of -i suffix - signifies the Direct Object - the..

All the pronouns retain their regular form when adding the -i -ı -u -ü - Direct Object suffix

With the -i -ı suffix which signifies the Direct Object
Singular beni - me seni - you onu - him, her, it	Plural 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 mi? - Did Ali repair your car?
araba-n-ı - "your car" - as a Direct Object

Mustafa, onu yaptı - Mustafa did it..
on-u - "it" - as a Direct Object

We have to realise that in English we make both the Subject and Object of a sentence substantive by the use of the same Definite Article - "THE" - as an example:
"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 as the suffix -(y)i (according to Vowel harmony Rules.
"Adam kapİyİ kapattİ" - "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 addition of -la/ -la (ile) suffix - with, and, together with

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

With the -le -la - with, and, also, together with
Singular benimle - with me seninle - with you onunla - with him.. her.. it..	Plural bizimle - with us sizinle -with you onlarla - with them (exception see note below and above)

Examples with the -le suffix

Mehmet, benimle geldi. - Mehmet came with me. Mehmet and I came.
ben-im-le - with me or and I

Ali, onlarla geldi mi? - Did Ali come with them?
onlar-la - with them - see exception note below

Mustafa, bizimle kalacak - Mustafa will stay with us..
biz-im-le - with us

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