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Turkish/Pronouns

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Statement of learning goals for this resource

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From this lesson you will understand the basic Turkish pronouns and how to use them in sentences.

Basic Pronouns

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Word
Turkish English
Ben
I
Sen
You
O
He/She/It
Biz
We
Siz
You
Onlar
they

To be

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The verb "to be" in Turkish is always an ending added to the noun. These endings are either -im, -sin, -iz, -siniz, or -ler depending on the pronoun.

Below is an example using the Turkish word for pretty: güzel.

Pronoun Turkish To be Example English
I Ben -im Ben güzelim I am pretty.
You (singular) Sen -sin Sen güzelsin You are pretty.
He/she O none O güzel He/she is pretty.
We Biz -iz Biz güzeliz We are pretty.
You (plural) Siz -siniz Siz güzelsiniz You are pretty.
They Onlar -ler Onlar güzeller They are pretty.

Dropping the Personal Pronoun

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In Turkish, the personal pronoun is usually assumed in a sentence. Thus, most of the time it is dropped. For example:

Original Dropped Pronoun
Ben güzelim.
Güzelim.
Sen güzelsin.
Güzelsin.
O Güzel.
Güzel.
Biz güzeliz.
Güzeliz.
Siz güzelsiniz.
Güzelsiniz.
Onlar güzeller.
Güzeller.

Practice

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Complete the following examples using the vocab provided below.

English Turkish
I am happy.
Ben mutluyum
You (singular) are big.

Sen büyüksün

He/She/It is good.

O iyi.

We are hot.

Biz sıcağız.

You (plural) are cold.

Siz soğuksunuz.

They are white.
Onlar beyaz.
Onlar beyaz

Vocab

iyi = good

beyaz = white

mutlu = happy

sıcak = hot

soğuk = cold

büyük = big

Two Vowels in a Row

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When you add a "to be" suffix to a word, and the result has two vowels in a row, you add a -y- between them as a buffer. For example:

"iyi" means good. To say "I am good", you add the -im suffix. The result is iyiim but since you cannot have two "i"s together, you add the -y- which makes iyiyim, meaning "I am good".