Personal pronouns: ben, sen, o, biz, siz, onlar

The idea

Turkish has six personal pronouns: ben (I), sen (you), o (he, she, it), biz (we), siz (you, plural or polite) and onlar (they). O shows no gender, and siz also addresses one person you respect. The verb ending already tells who acts, so the pronoun is left out unless you contrast or stress it: Gidiyorum already means “I am going”.

Examples

• Ben bugün çok yorgunum.I am very tired today.
• Sen çok iyi bir arkadaşsın.You are a very good friend.
• O şimdi evde.He/She is at home now.Turkish has one word, o, for he, she and it; the situation tells you who is meant. In the third person there is no ending here at all.
• Biz yarın Bursa'ya gidiyoruz.We are going to Bursa tomorrow.
• Siz bu akşam burada mısınız?Are you here this evening?Siz is the plural “you” and also the polite “you” for one person, such as a stranger or someone older. The ending -sınız goes with it either way.
• Ben kahve içiyorum, sen çay içiyorsun.I am drinking coffee, you are drinking tea.Here ben and sen stay because they set two people against each other. Without that contrast, the endings -um and -sun would already say who drinks.
• Gidiyorum.I’m going.No ben is needed: the ending -um already says “I”. This is the ordinary way to say it.
• Onlar şimdi sinemada.They are at the cinema now.
• Ben de geliyorum.I am coming too.De is a separate word meaning “too” and is written apart: ben de. Written together, bende means “on me, with me”, which is a different word.

Watch out

Do not put a pronoun into every sentence the way English, German or French must. Ben gidiyorum is correct, but it sounds like “I am going (you are not)”. A plain statement is just Gidiyorum. And never look for “he” or “she” in o: there is only one word.

Try it yourself

1. You politely ask an older stranger where they are from. Write the pronoun.

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   siz

   siz: you address a stranger who is older, so you use the polite form, which is the same word as the plural; the ending -sınız matches it.

2. Ali and Zeynep are very tired. Write the pronoun: They are at home today.

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   onlar

   onlar: two people are the subject, so it is the plural of o, and there is no choice between “he” and “she” to make.

3. Elif is at home. Write the pronoun: She is reading a book.

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   o

   o: one person, third person singular; Turkish has no separate word for “she”, so the same o serves for Elif or Can.

4. You and a friend have different drinks. Write the pronoun: you (singular, informal).

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   sen

   sen: the sentence sets two people against each other, so both pronouns stay; without that contrast the ending -sun alone would be enough.

Use it today

Write four sentences about you and a friend. Use no pronoun in the first two. In the other two add ben and sen to contrast what each of you does.