You will address a woman or a man politely and remember that the title stands after the name.
The idea
Put Hanım after a woman's first name and Bey after a man's: Ayşe Hanım, Ahmet Bey. Both are capitalised and sound respectful without being stiff. A job title can come first: Müdür Bey, Doktor Hanım. On their own, the polite one-word forms are hanımefendi (to a woman) and beyefendi (to a man). Case endings go on the title, after an apostrophe: Ahmet Bey'e, Selin Hanım'ın. Efendi after a name, as in Ahmet Efendi, belongs mostly to older speech.
| Title | Example | With an ending |
|---|---|---|
| Hanım | Ayşe Hanım | Ayşe Hanım'a |
| Bey | Ahmet Bey | Ahmet Bey'e |
| Müdür Bey | Müdür Bey, buyurun | Müdür Bey'in |
| Doktor Hanım | Doktor Hanım geldi | Doktor Hanım'ın |
Examples
- Ayşe Hanım şimdi geliyor.Ms Ayşe is coming now.
- Ahmet Bey bugün toplantıda.Mr Ahmet is in a meeting today.
- Ben Ahmet Bey'e çay getiriyorum.I am bringing tea to Mr Ahmet.The ending goes on the title, after an apostrophe, because Ahmet Bey works as one name: Ahmet Bey'e, not Ahmet'e Bey. The pronoun ben may be dropped.
- Hanımefendi, buyurun.Madam, please go ahead.
- Selin Hanım'ın çantası masada.Ms Selin's bag is on the table.The genitive ending also follows the title, after an apostrophe: Selin Hanım'ın. The bag takes -sı: çantası.
- Müdür Bey, size bir sorum var.Director, I have a question for you.
- Doktor Hanım sizi bekliyor.The doctor is waiting for you.
- Beyefendi, çantanız burada.Sir, your bag is here.
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Watch out
Do not put the title in front of the name as English does: Bey Ahmet and Hanım Ayşe are wrong. And never use it for yourself: you introduce yourself as Ayşe, not Ayşe Hanım.
Try it yourself
Add the polite title that follows a woman's first name.
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Hanım
Hanım: the woman's first name comes first, then the title with a capital letter.
Add the polite title that follows a man's first name.
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Bey
Bey: it follows a man's first name, so Ahmet Bey is right and Bey Ahmet is not.
Write the title for a man with the dative ending: I am giving Ahmet some water.
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Bey'e
Bey'e: the ending goes on the title after an apostrophe, and the last vowel e of Bey gives -e, not -a.
Write the title for a woman with the genitive ending: Selin's bag is on the table.
Show answer or example answer
Hanım'ın
Hanım'ın: the last vowel ı of Hanım gives the genitive -ın, joined with an apostrophe.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
Add the polite title that follows a woman's first name.
Add the polite title that follows a man's first name.
Write the title for a man with the dative ending: I am giving Ahmet some water.
Write the title for a woman with the genitive ending: Selin's bag is on the table.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
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Write four sentences about people in an office or a hotel, using a first name or a job title with Bey or Hanım. Then add an ending (to, of) to one of them.