Distribution: her biri, hepsi, hiçbiri

You already know the determiners — her "every," bütün "all," hiç "no/any" — the words that sit in front of a noun: her öğrenci "every student," bütün öğrenciler "all the students." This page is about their pronoun counterparts: the words that stand on their own and mean "each one," "all of them," "none," "most of them." These are her biri, hepsi, hiçbiri, çoğu, bazıları, biri, and they share one elegant piece of machinery: each is built with the possessive suffix -(s)I and points back to a group expressed in the genitive — exactly the definite izafet you already use for "the door of the house." Once you see that öğrencilerin hepsi "all of the students" is the same construction as evin kapısı "the door of the house," the whole set falls into place — and the single error English speakers make, dropping the partitive genitive, disappears.

The core idea: a possessed quantifier over a genitive group

Look at one example and the pattern reveals itself:

öğrenciler-in hepsi — "all of the students" the students-GEN their-all

The group ("the students") goes in the genitive (-(n)In): öğrencilerin. The quantifier ("all") takes the third-person possessive -(s)I: hep + si = hepsi, literally "their entirety / the all-of-them." This is the izafet relationship — the X of Y — applied to quantity: the all of the students, the most of the students, the one of the students. The group answers "out of what?"; the quantifier carries the possessive that points back to it.

The full set

Notice what unites the right-hand column: every one of these ends in the possessive -(s)I (hep-si, hiçbir-i, bazı-lar-ı, bir-i, birkaç-ı) — the same suffix that makes kapı-sı "its door." That is why they all want a genitive partitive group in front: they are grammatically "the [quantity] of [the group]."

her biri — "each one"

The determiner her "every" becomes the pronoun her biri "each one of them" — her plus bir "one" plus the possessive -i. Like her, it picks out members one at a time, so it triggers singular agreement on the verb. The group, when expressed, is genitive.

You can also say her birimiz "each of us," her biriniz "each of you" — the possessive simply switches person: her bir-imiz, her bir-iniz.

hepsi — "all of them"

hepsi is the pronoun "all of them / the whole lot," the standalone counterpart of the determiner bütün/tüm. It is hep "all, always" + the possessive -si. With a group, it takes the genitive: arkadaşlarımın hepsi "all of my friends." Standing alone, hepsi already means "all of them."

For person forms: hepimiz "all of us," hepiniz "all of you" (note hep + -imiz / -iniz, with no -s-). These are extremely common: Hepimiz hazırız "We're all ready."

hiçbiri — "none, not one"

hiçbiri "none of them, not a single one" is written solid (hiç + bir + -i) and, like all negative-polarity words, pairs with a negated verb — Turkish negative concord. The group is genitive: soruların hiçbiri "none of the questions."

Note the last example: the group can also appear in the ablative — adaylardan "from the candidates" — instead of, or alongside, the genitive. Both adayların hiçbiri (genitive) and adaylardan hiçbiri (ablative "out of the candidates, none") are correct and natural; the ablative slightly stresses "out of this pool."

çoğu, bazıları, birkaçı — "most / some / a few of them"

These three are the partitive pronouns for "most," "some," and "a few." çoğu "most of them" you already met as a quantifier (çoğu insan "most people"); standing alone or over a genitive group it means "most of them": öğrencilerin çoğu "most of the students." bazıları "some of them" is bazı + plural -lar + possessive -ı. birkaçı "a few of them" is birkaç + -ı.

biri / birisi — "one of them, someone"

biri (or birisi) is "one of them" with a group, and "someone" standing alone — the indefinite pronoun built on bir "one." Arkadaşlarımdan biri / arkadaşlarımın biri "one of my friends." For the wider family of indefinite pronouns (biri, kimse, herkes, bir şey), see indefinite pronouns.

Adding case on top: the possessive demands the -n-

Because these pronouns carry the third-person possessive -(s)I, any case suffix you add afterwards triggers the buffer -n- of the possessive declension — exactly as on any possessed noun (kapısı → kapısına). So "all of them" in the accusative is hepsini, in the dative hepsine; "each one" in the dative is her birine; "none" in the dative is hiçbirine.

This -n- is not optional and not the same as the genitive -n; it is the obligatory buffer that the possessive -(s)I inserts before any case ending. Forgetting it (hepsiyi, her biriye) is the second-most-common error after dropping the genitive on the group.

Common mistakes

The errors cluster around the izafet machinery: (1) the group must be genitive (öğrencilerin, not öğrenciler); (2) the quantifier already carries the possessive, so don't double it (çoğu, not çoğusu); and (3) any case suffix needs the buffer -n- (hepsini, her birine, hiçbirine).

Key takeaways

• These pronouns are the standalone counterparts of the determiners: her → her biri "each one," bütün → hepsi "all of them," hiç → hiçbiri "none," çoğu "most of them," bazı → bazıları "some of them," bir → biri "one of them."
• They all carry the possessive -(s)I and govern a genitive partitive group — the same izafet as evin kapısı: öğrencilerin hepsi "all of the students."
• The group can also appear in the ablative for "out of": adaylardan hiçbiri "none of the candidates."
• Because of the possessive, any case suffix triggers the buffer -n-: hepsini, her birine, hiçbirine.
• hiçbiri is solid and needs a negated verb; çoğu already has its possessive — never çoğusu.
• For the determiner-side number contrasts (her
  • singular vs. bütün
    • plural), see her vs. bütün vs. tüm.