You will choose between abi, abla and kardeşim when you talk to someone, and tell calling a person apart from speaking about your own brother or sister.
The idea
Abi (man) and abla (woman) follow a first name, in lowercase, to address someone a few years older than you, whether or not you are related: Ali abi, Selin abla. Alone they call out to a stranger: Abi, bir çay lütfen. To a younger person, or warmly to a friend, you say kardeşim. When you mean your own brother or sister, add the possessive: abim, ablam, ablamız.
| Word | Calling someone | Speaking of my own | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|
| abi | Ali abi | Ali abim | abiler |
| abla | Selin abla | Selin ablam | ablalar |
| kardeş | kardeşim | kardeşim | kardeşler |
Examples
- Abi, bir çay lütfen.A tea, please, abi.
- Selin abla yarın geliyor.Selin abla is coming tomorrow.Abla follows the first name and is written in lowercase. It marks a woman a little older than you, and she does not have to be a relative.
- Kardeşim, burada bekle.Wait here, kardeşim.Kardeşim is for someone younger or a friend of your age. The ending -im is part of the set phrase, even though the person is not really yours.
- Murat abim bugün işte.My older brother Murat is at work today.With the possessive, abim speaks about your own brother. Said to a friend's brother, it would be Murat abi.
- Ablam benimle geliyor.My older sister is coming with me.
- Pardon abla, bu otobüs müzeye gidiyor mu?Excuse me, abla, does this bus go to the museum?
- Sağ ol, Ali abi.Thanks, Ali abi.
- Abim bizimle yaşıyor.My older brother lives with us.
- ablamızour older sisterablamız-imiz / -ımız / -umuz / -ümüz: our
- abilerimmy older brothersabiler-ler / -lar: the plural suffixim-im / -ım / -um / -üm / -m: my
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Watch out
Do not add a possessive when you call a person: Ali abim usually means your own brother Ali, while a friend's brother is Ali abi. For someone clearly older, such as a parent's age, many people choose amca or teyze instead of abi or abla.
Try it yourself
Add the address word for a woman a little older than you: Selin ___.
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abla
abla: Selin is a woman a little older than you, so the word is abla, lowercase after the name.
Add the address word for a man a little older than you: Cem ___, thanks.
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abi
abi: Cem is a man a little older and you are calling to him, so there is no possessive: abi, not abim.
Add the word for your own older brother (with the possessive): Ali ___ is at work today.
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abim
abim: here you speak about your own older brother, so the possessive -im is added to abi.
Make 'our older sister' from abla.
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ablamız
ablamız: abla ends in a vowel, so "our" is -mız here, and the vowel a gives ı.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Add the address word for a woman a little older than you: Selin ___.
Add the address word for a man a little older than you: Cem ___, thanks.
Add the word for your own older brother (with the possessive): Ali ___ is at work today.
Make 'our older sister' from abla.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the parts in order to build this word: our older sister
Tap the parts in order to build this word: my older brothers
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Write three short lines to people of different ages from your day: a stallholder, a friend's older sister and a younger cousin, and pick abi, abla or kardeşim for each.