French tu/vous and German du/Sie offer a useful starting point for Turkish, but choosing an equivalent pronoun is only half the job. At B2, read the relationship and the number of addressees, then follow the choice through the sentence, even when there is no subject pronoun.
The idea
Sen addresses one person on familiar terms; siz addresses several people or one person with polite distance. French vous shares this double role, while German distinguishes familiar plural ihr from polite Sie. These are functional comparisons, not identical social rules: the setting, relationship and speakers’ preferences matter. Turkish polite siz still takes second-person plural agreement, not a third-person form borrowed from German. Omitting the pronoun does not remove the distinction: düşünüyorsun and düşünüyorsunuz retain it. Follow the choice in other forms too: sana versus size, seninle versus sizinle.
| Addressees and relationship | Turkish | French | German |
|---|---|---|---|
| One person, familiar | sen | tu | du |
| One person, polite distance | siz | vous | Sie |
| Several people, familiar | siz | vous | ihr |
| Several people, polite distance | siz | vous | Sie |
Examples
- Bu konuda sen karar veriyorsun.You are making the decision on this matter (familiar singular).
- Bugün sizinle görüşmek istiyorum.I want to speak with you today (polite singular or plural).
- Arkadaşlar, siz burada bekleyin.Friends, you wait here.
- Ece Hanım, önerinizi dinlemek isterim.Ms Ece, I would like to hear your suggestion.
- Bana sen diyebilirsiniz.You may address me with the familiar “you”.
- Sana bu dosyayı göndereyim mi?Shall I send you this file (familiar singular)?
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Watch out
Do not change to sen just because someone uses a first name: Ece Hanım combines a first name with a respectful title. Nor does siz prove that a conversation is formal: friends addressed together also take it. An invitation such as Bana sen diyebilirsiniz makes the permitted change explicit; the invitation itself still addresses the listener with the polite ending.
Try it yourself
You address one person politely. Choose sen or siz to complete the question: What do you think about this?
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Siz
Siz: the prompt specifies polite address to one person, and düşünüyorsunuz already marks that choice. One listener does not require sen here.
Ask two close friends whether they are coming tomorrow. Complete the question using gelmek with -iyor.
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geliyor musunuz
geliyor musunuz: there are two friends, so the question needs plural agreement. Familiarity does not turn a group into a singular addressee; German would use ihr here.
One person says Bana sen diyebilirsiniz. You accept. Choose sana or size: Then let me ask you a question.
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sana
sana: the person has explicitly invited familiar address. Sormak marks the person receiving the question with the dative, so the corresponding form is sana, not the subject form sen.
Ask one person politely: Are you available this evening? Use müsait and omit the subject pronoun.
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müsait misiniz
müsait misiniz: the separate question word carries the polite/plural personal ending. Even without siz, the question preserves polite address to the one person described.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
You address one person politely. Choose sen or siz to complete the question: What do you think about this?
Ask two close friends whether they are coming tomorrow. Complete the question using gelmek with -iyor.
One person says Bana sen diyebilirsiniz. You accept. Choose sana or size: Then let me ask you a question.
Ask one person politely: Are you available this evening? Use müsait and omit the subject pronoun.
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 the same question for one close friend, one person you address formally and two close friends. Explain which change comes from number and which from the relationship. Then accept an invitation to use sen and write a follow-up with sana. Use the linked grammar and suffix lessons for the forms.