Grammar Lesson: Learn The Personal Pronouns In Turkish And How To Use Them

Welcome to what is probably one of your first Turkish grammar lessons, this one focusing on personal pronouns! In this guide, besides teaching you what the personal pronouns in Turkish are, I also give plenty of examples covering how they’re used, and how they change in the different grammatical cases. Lastly, I end with plenty of example sentences that you would use in real life along with the answers to some common questions about Turkish pronouns. Let’s get started!

Pronouns in Turkish Grammar: Here’s The 101

Personal pronouns in Turkish replace nouns to refer to people or things, similar to English pronouns like “I,” “you,” or “they.” Turkish has six basic personal pronouns, used primarily as the subject of a sentence. Unlike many languages like German, French, and Spanish, Turkish does not classify nouns with gender. However, even more unique is that the third-person Turkish pronouns are all gender neutral. This means that the word for “he,” “she,” and “it” is the same word in all of those cases, something rare compared to European languages, although present in Finnish. If you have ever spoken to a Turkish person who is learning English, you have probably heard them mix up these third-person pronouns for this reason!

While you certainly have to learn these pronouns, you should know upfront that Turkish speakers often omit the pronouns when they are the subject of a sentence. This is because the information about the subject is already contained in the verb conjugation. However, using the pronouns often serves to add emphasis, as does changing the standard subject-object-verb sentence structure (more examples on that later).

Personal Pronouns in Turkish and English Chart

Here is a chart of the basic Turkish personal pronouns in the nominative case, which is the grammatical case used when a word is serving as the subject of a sentence.

Pro Tip: Before you begin memorizing these pronunciations, review this alphabet pronunciation guide to make sure you understand Turkish phonetics. However, when in doubt, pronounce every letter you see in Turkish words!

English	Turkish	Pronunciation
I	Ben	Ben (The E has a somewhat shorter A sound like in “Apple”)
You (singular/informal)	Sen	Sen (Another slightly shorter A sound like in “Apple”)
He/She/It	O	Oh
We	Biz	Biz
You (plural or formal)	Siz	Siz
They	Onlar	On-lar

Sen vs. Siz: How Do You Say “You” in Turkish Properly?

In Turkish, choosing between sen and siz for “you” depends on the social context. Sen is the informal, singular form, perfect for casual conversations with friends, family, or people of similar age or status. Like many other languages, there is another pronoun siz that Turks use for plural “you” or as a formal singular to show respect, such as when speaking to strangers, elders, or professionals (e.g., Siz ne düşünüyorsunuz? – “What do you think?”).

As a Turkish learner who did not grow up in the culture, I find myself often confused over which pronoun to use. In some sense, you will never completely know which one to use in all situations because the social dynamics involved are too complex. My advice would be to use siz just to be safe, unless you are completely sure that the person is your age or younger and using sen fits the situation. Plus, you can also start with siz and eventually convert to sen as you get to know someone!

Example Sentences With Basic Pronouns

Turkish personal pronouns in their basic form are typically used as the subject of a sentence, but they’re often optional because verb endings show who’s performing the action. For example, Ben çalışıyorum (“I am working”) can be shortened to Çalışıyorum, as the -ıyorum ending already indicates the first person singular.

However, as a beginner, it is probably a good exercise to put them into sentences to help you learn the structure of the language. You will also hear native Turkish speakers using subjects in more complex sentences to avoid ambiguity. Lastly, you should use them when you want to stress who is doing something. For example, if someone asks “Yaptı mı?” (Did he make it?) you might respond with “Ben yaptım” (I made it), which gives the added meaning of “he didn’t make it, I did”.

Pro Tip: If a Turkish sentence seems to be missing a verb, it could be because the verb “to be” is usually implied in the third-person forms. This grammar lesson covers how to use the verb to be in Turkish.

Here are some basic example sentences to see the subjects in action and how they correspond to verb conjugations:

• Ben Türkçe öğreniyorum. (I am learning Turkish.)
• Sen ne yapıyorsun? (What are you doing?)
• O evde. (He/She/It is at home.)
• Biz sinemaya gidiyoruz. (We are going to the cinema.)
• Siz nasılsınız? (How are you? – formal/plural)
• Onlar parka koşuyorlar. (They are running to the park.)

Read More: Check out these introductory Turkish phrases to see more simple sentences in action.

Turkish Pronouns Charts With Grammatical Cases

Turkish is an agglutinative language, meaning it uses suffixes to show a word’s role in a sentence. So, you will often see vocabulary you know with extra endings added to the word, for example, if it is a direct object or an indirect object. English pronouns can also change in this way, for example, “he” is used for subjects whereas “him” is used for objects. However, Turkish uses grammatical cases for other situations in which English would use prepositions.

For the grammatical cases of personal pronouns, you change them between cases called the accusative (direct object), dative (indirect object), genitive (possession), locative (location), or ablative (from/away). Remember that these suffixes, like all Turkish suffixes, follow vowel harmony rules, where the vowel in the suffix matches the last vowel in the pronoun (e.g., ben + -a = bana).

Below, I will show you how these pronouns change for each of these cases, with charts for clarity. (Note: The nominative form is just the standard form you already learned above.)

Accusative Case (Direct Object)

The accusative case is used when the pronoun is the direct object of a verb (e.g., “I saw him”). Suffixes are added to the pronoun, and the form changes slightly.

English	Turkish (Accusative)	Pronunciation
Me	Beni	Beh-nee
You (singular)	Seni	Seh-nee
Him/Her/It	Onu	Oh-noo
Us	Bizi	Bee-zee
You (plural/formal)	Sizi	See-zee
Them	Onları	On-lar-uh

Dative Case (Indirect Object/Direction)

The dative case is used for indirect objects (e.g., “I gave her a book”) or to show direction (e.g., “to me”).

English	Turkish (Dative)	Pronunciation
To me	Bana	Bah-nah
To you (singular)	Sana	Sah-nah
To him/her/it	Ona	Oh-nah
To us	Bize	Bee-zeh
To you (plural/formal)	Size	See-zeh
To them	Onlara	On-lar-ah

Locative Case (Location)

The locative case indicates location or possession (e.g., “at me” or “I have”). It’s less common with pronouns but is used in expressions like possession.

Example: Anahtar bende – “I have the key” or literally “The key is on me”.

English	Turkish (Locative)	Pronunciation
At/on me	Bende	Ben-deh
At/on you (singular)	Sende	Sen-deh
At/on him/her/it	Onda	On-dah
At/on us	Bizde	Biz-deh
At/on you (plural/formal)	Sizde	Siz-deh
At/on them	Onlarda	On-lar-dah

Ablative Case (From/Away)

The ablative case shows movement away from source (e.g., “from me”).

English	Turkish (Ablative)	Pronunciation
From me	Benden	Ben-den
From you (singular)	Senden	Sen-den
From him/her/it	Ondan	On-dan
From us	Bizden	Biz-den
From you (plural/formal)	Sizden	Siz-den
From them	Onlardan	On-lar-dan

Genitive Case (Possession)

The genitive case indicates possession, showing ownership (e.g., “my book” or “of me”). It’s used with pronouns to express whose something is, often paired with a possessive suffix on the noun (e.g., Benim kitabım – “My book”). The genitive pronoun can also stand alone to mean “mine” or “yours” (e.g., Kitap benim – “The book is mine”).

English	Turkish (Genitive)	Pronunciation
My/Mine	Benim	Beh-nim
Your/Yours (singular)	Senin	Seh-nin
His/Her/Its	Onun	Oh-noon
Our/Ours	Bizim	Bee-zim
Your/Yours (plural/formal)	Sizin	See-zin
Their/Theirs	Onların	On-lar-uhn

More Example Sentences with Turkish Pronouns (in all Grammar Cases)

To help you practice, here are example sentences using personal pronouns in different cases. Each includes a translation and a brief explanation of the pronoun’s role.

• Nominative Case (Subject)
  • Ben her sabah koşarım.
    (I run every morning.)
    Explanation: Ben is the subject, emphasizing “I” as the runner.
  • Sen çok iyi bir öğrencisin.
    (You are a very good student.)
    Explanation: Sen is informal, addressing one person as the subject.
  • Onlar dün İstanbul’a gittiler.
    (They went to Istanbul yesterday.)
    Explanation: Onlar is the subject, referring to a group.
• Accusative Case (Direct Object)
  • Beni pazarda gördün mü?
    (Did you see me at the market?)
    Explanation: Beni is the direct object of the verb gördün (you saw).
  • Seni dün aradım.
    (I called you yesterday.)
    Explanation: Seni is the direct object, receiving the action of calling.
  • Onları partiye davet ettik.
    (We invited them to the party.)
    Explanation: Onları is the direct object, referring to a group. Also note that the word parti has the dative suffix -e with a buffer letter y.
• Dative Case (Indirect Object/Direction)
  • Bana bir kahve al.
    (Buy me a coffee.)
    Explanation: Bana is the indirect object, indicating for whom the coffee is for.
  • Sana mektup yazdım.
    (I wrote you a letter.)
    Explanation: Sana shows the recipient of the letter.
  • Onlara yardım edelim.
    (Let’s help them.)
    Explanation: Onlara is the indirect object, showing who receives help.
• Locative Case (Location/Possession)
  • Bende iki bilet var.
    (I have two tickets.)
    Explanation: Bende indicates possession, meaning “on me” (I have).
  • Sende kalem var mı?
    (Do you have a pen?)
    Explanation: Sende shows possession for “you” (informal).
  • Onda çok güzel bir saat var.
    (He/She has a very nice watch.)
    Explanation: Onda indicates possession for “he/she/it.”
• Ablative Case (From/Away)
  • Benden haber bekle.
    (Wait for news from me.)
    Explanation: Benden shows the source of the news.
  • Senden bir şey istiyorum.
    (I want something from you.)
    Explanation: Senden indicates the source of the request.
  • Onlardan hiçbir şey almadım.
    (I didn’t take anything from them.)
    Explanation: Onlardan shows the source is “from them”.

• Genitive Case (Possession)
  • Benim arabam yeni.
    (My car is new.)
    Explanation: Benim indicates possession, showing the car belongs to “me.”
  • Senin çantan nerede?
    (Where is your bag?)
    Explanation: Senin shows possession for “you” (informal).
  • Onların bahçesi çok büyük.
    (Their garden is very big.)
    Explanation: Onların indicates possession of “they”.

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Conclusion

Congratulations on taking your first steps into Turkish grammar with personal pronouns! By understanding the basic pronouns, their forms in different grammatical cases, and how they’re used in sentences, you’ve built a strong foundation for communicating in Turkish. Practice using these pronouns in everyday situations, refer to the charts for quick reference, and experiment with forming your own sentences.

As you continue exploring Turkish, you’ll find that pronouns become second nature, opening the door to more complex and exciting conversations. Keep practicing, and check out more grammar lessons on our website to continue your Turkish learning journey!

Have any comments or questions? Feel free to leave a note below in the comments or email me at: [email protected]

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