Turkish/Pronouns
Statement of learning goals for this resource
From this lesson you will understand the basic Turkish pronouns and how to use them in sentences.
Basic Pronouns
| Word | |
|---|---|
| Turkish | English |
Ben |
I |
Sen |
You |
O |
He/She/It |
Biz |
We |
Siz |
You |
Onlar |
they |
To be
The verb "to be" in Turkish is always an ending added to the noun. These endings are either -im, -sin, -iz, -siniz, or -ler depending on the pronoun.
Below is an example using the Turkish word for pretty: güzel.
| Pronoun | Turkish | To be | Example | English | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | Ben | -im | Ben güzelim | I am pretty. | |
| You (singular) | Sen | -sin | Sen güzelsin | You are pretty. | |
| He/she | O | none | O güzel | He/she is pretty. | |
| We | Biz | -iz | Biz güzeliz | We are pretty. | |
| You (plural) | Siz | -siniz | Siz güzelsiniz | You are pretty. | |
| They | Onlar | -ler | Onlar güzeller | They are pretty. |
Dropping the Personal Pronoun
In Turkish, the personal pronoun is usually assumed in a sentence. Thus, most of the time it is dropped. For example:
| Original | Dropped Pronoun |
|---|---|
Ben güzelim. |
Güzelim. |
Sen güzelsin. |
Güzelsin. |
O Güzel. |
Güzel. |
Biz güzeliz. |
Güzeliz. |
Siz güzelsiniz. |
Güzelsiniz. |
Onlar güzeller. |
Güzeller. |
Practice
Complete the following examples using the vocab provided below.
| English | Turkish |
|---|---|
I am happy. |
Ben mutluyum |
You (singular) are big. |
Sen büyüksün |
He/She/It is good. |
O iyi. |
We are hot. |
Biz sıcağız. |
You (plural) are cold. |
Siz soğuksunuz. |
They are white. |
Onlar beyaz. |
Vocab
iyi = good
beyaz = white
mutlu = happy
sıcak = hot
soğuk = cold
büyük = big
Two Vowels in a Row
When you add a "to be" suffix to a word, and the result has two vowels in a row, you add a -y- between them as a buffer. For example:
"iyi" means good. To say "I am good", you add the -im suffix. The result is iyiim but since you cannot have two "i"s together, you add the -y- which makes iyiyim, meaning "I am good".