Turkish personal pronouns are short and regular, and the verb “to be” is not a separate word at all: in the present tense, “am / is / are” is a small suffix attached to the end of a noun or adjective. Once you know the six pronouns and the six matching suffixes, you can already say who you are, where you are from and how you feel. This guide covers the pronouns, the “to be” (copula) suffixes with full harmony tables, negatives and questions, the irregular case forms of the pronouns, and the most common learner mistakes.
The six personal pronouns
| Pronoun | English | Usage note |
|---|---|---|
| ben | I | 1st person singular |
| sen | you | singular, informal: friends, family, children |
| o | he / she / it | no gender distinction; also means “that” |
| biz | we | 1st person plural |
| siz | you | plural “you all”, and polite singular |
| onlar | they | 3rd person plural (o + -lar) |
Two points matter from day one:
- No gender. O means he, she or it. O doktor can be “He is a doctor” or “She is a doctor”; context decides.
- Sen vs siz. Use siz with strangers, older people, shop staff and officials, even when you are talking to one person. Using sen with a stranger can sound rude. For the social side of this, see sen vs siz and polite forms.
Pronouns are usually dropped
The personal suffix already tells you who the subject is, so Turkish speakers normally leave the pronoun out. Yorgunum is a complete sentence: “I’m tired.” Adding ben puts emphasis or contrast on the person: Ben yorgunum = “I am tired (not you).” Over-using pronouns is one of the clearest signs of a beginner.
The “to be” suffixes (present tense)
The present-tense copula is a set of personal endings. They follow 4-way vowel harmony (ı, i, u, ü), except the 3rd person plural -lar/-ler, which is 2-way.
| Person | Suffix | After a consonant | After a vowel |
|---|---|---|---|
| ben | -(y)ım / -(y)im / -(y)um / -(y)üm | yorgunum | hastayım |
| sen | -sın / -sin / -sun / -sün | yorgunsun | hastasın |
| o | (none) or -dır / -dir / -dur / -dür | yorgun | hasta |
| biz | -(y)ız / -(y)iz / -(y)uz / -(y)üz | yorgunuz | hastayız |
| siz | -sınız / -siniz / -sunuz / -sünüz | yorgunsunuz | hastasınız |
| onlar | -lar / -ler (optional) | yorgun(lar) | hasta(lar) |
The y in brackets is a buffer letter: when a word ends in a vowel, y is inserted before a suffix that begins with a vowel, so hasta + ım becomes hastayım, never hastaım.
Full paradigms with each harmony vowel
| öğretmen (teacher) | hasta (ill) | Türk (Turkish) | mutlu (happy) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ben | öğretmenim | hastayım | Türküm | mutluyum |
| sen | öğretmensin | hastasın | Türksün | mutlusun |
| o | öğretmen | hasta | Türk | mutlu |
| biz | öğretmeniz | hastayız | Türküz | mutluyuz |
| siz | öğretmensiniz | hastasınız | Türksünüz | mutlusunuz |
| onlar | öğretmen(ler) | hasta(lar) | Türk(ler) | mutlu(lar) |
Consonant changes
Because -(y)ım and -(y)ız start with a vowel, words ending in p, ç, t, k may soften by the consonant mutation rule: çocuk (child) → çocuğum (I am a child), genç (young) → genciz (we are young). Monosyllables usually keep their consonant: Türk → Türküm.
The third person: -dır or nothing?
In everyday speech, the third person singular usually has no suffix: O öğretmen = “He/She is a teacher”, Hava güzel = “The weather is nice.”
The suffix -dır (with 8 forms: -dır, -dir, -dur, -dür after voiced sounds and vowels; -tır, -tir, -tur, -tür after the voiceless consonants f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p) appears in three situations:
- General truths and definitions: Su sıvıdır. (Water is a liquid.)
- Formal or written statements, signs and textbooks: Müze pazartesi günleri kapalıdır. (The museum is closed on Mondays.)
- Assumptions (“probably”): Ahmet şimdi ofistedir. (Ahmet is probably at the office now.)
-dır can also be added to other persons in formal style (öğretmenimdir), but you will rarely need that at A1.
Onlar: -lar is optional
With onlar, the plural copula is optional and often dropped when the subject is already plural: Onlar Alman. (They are German.) / Çocuklar bahçede. (The children are in the garden.) Without any subject, use it to make the plural clear: Bahçedeler. (They are in the garden.)
Negative: değil
To say “I am not”, put değil after the noun or adjective and attach the personal suffix to değil. Because değil always has the vowel i, the endings never change.
| Person | Negative | English |
|---|---|---|
| ben | öğretmen değilim | I am not a teacher |
| sen | öğretmen değilsin | you are not a teacher |
| o | öğretmen değil | he/she is not a teacher |
| biz | öğretmen değiliz | we are not teachers |
| siz | öğretmen değilsiniz | you are not teacher(s) |
| onlar | öğretmen değil(ler) | they are not teachers |
More on negation across the language: negation with -me/-ma, değil and yok.
Questions: mi + suffix
The question particle mi is written as a separate word, harmonises with the word before it, and carries the personal suffix (with buffer y in the 1st person):
| Person | Question | English |
|---|---|---|
| ben | Hasta mıyım? | Am I ill? |
| sen | Yorgun musun? | Are you tired? |
| o | Türk mü? | Is he/she Turkish? |
| biz | Geç miyiz? | Are we late? |
| siz | Öğretmen misiniz? | Are you a teacher? (polite) |
| onlar | Evdeler mi? | Are they at home? |
Note the 3rd person plural: the -ler stays on the word and mi comes after it.
Example sentences
- İngilizim. — I’m English.
- Sen çok yorgunsun. — You are very tired.
- Annem doktor. — My mother is a doctor.
- Londralıyız. — We are from London.
- Siz Bay Yılmaz mısınız? — Are you Mr Yılmaz?
- Hayır, öğrenci değilim; mühendisim. — No, I’m not a student; I’m an engineer.
- Evdeyim. — I’m at home. (ev + de + y + im)
- Kahve sıcak değil. — The coffee isn’t hot.
- Bugün pazartesi. — Today is Monday.
- Spor sağlığa yararlıdır. — Exercise is good for your health.
- Onlar Alman. — They are German.
- Hazır mısın? — Are you ready?
- Bu kitap benim. — This book is mine.
- Seni seviyorum. — I love you.
- Bana yardım eder misiniz? — Could you help me?
- Onunla konuştum. — I spoke with him/her.
- Bizden bir şey istemediler. — They didn’t want anything from us.
Pronouns in the other cases
Personal pronouns take the same case endings as nouns (see the noun cases guide), with a few irregular forms you simply need to memorise:
| Accusative | Dative | Locative | Ablative | Genitive | With (-le) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ben | beni | bana | bende | benden | benim | benimle |
| sen | seni | sana | sende | senden | senin | seninle |
| o | onu | ona | onda | ondan | onun | onunla |
| biz | bizi | bize | bizde | bizden | bizim | bizimle |
| siz | sizi | size | sizde | sizden | sizin | sizinle |
| onlar | onları | onlara | onlarda | onlardan | onların | onlarla |
Irregularities to watch:
- bana, sana: the dative changes the vowel (not bene, sene).
- benim, bizim: the genitive ends in -im, not -in.
- o adds an n before every case ending: onu, ona, onda, ondan, onun.
- The locative often means “have on me”: Bende kalem var. (I have a pen on me.) See existential sentences with var/yok for “I have”.
For “myself, yourself”, Turkish uses kendi; see the reflexive pronoun kendi.
Common mistakes
- Translating “am/is/are” as a word. ❌ Ben am öğretmen / ✅ Öğretmenim.
- Forgetting the buffer y. ❌ hastaım / ✅ hastayım; ❌ mutluuz / ✅ mutluyuz.
- Wrong harmony. ❌ yorgunım / ✅ yorgunum (last vowel u → suffix vowel u).
- Attaching değil or mi to the word. ❌ öğretmendeğilim, hastamısın / ✅ öğretmen değilim, hasta mısın.
- Using -dır in every 3rd-person sentence. O öğretmendir sounds like a textbook definition or a guess; in conversation say O öğretmen.
- Using sen with strangers. Ask a shop assistant Yardım eder misiniz?, not Yardım eder misin?
- Adding “bir” automatically. Ben bir öğretmenim is grammatical but marked; the neutral way to state a profession is Öğretmenim.
Mini-exercise
Add the correct “to be” suffix, negative or question form.
- (ben) mutlu → ?
- (sen) Amerikalı → ?
- (biz) çocuk → ?
- (siz) yorgun? (question) → ?
- (ben) doktor (negative) → ?
- (o) öğrenci? (question) → ?
- (onlar) evde → ?
- (sen) hazır? (question) → ?
Answers: 1. mutluyum 2. Amerikalısın 3. çocuğuz 4. Yorgun musunuz? 5. doktor değilim 6. Öğrenci mi? 7. evde(ler) 8. Hazır mısın?
Next steps
Practice the suffix vowels with the harmony calculator, then move on to the plural suffix -lar/-ler and demonstrative pronouns bu, şu, o.
