This is your very first contact with Turkish pronouns, and the good news is that there are only six of them, they are short, and two facts about them will make your life easier than English ever did. There is no "he versus she" to track, and most of the time you do not even say the pronoun. By the end of this page you will be able to build complete Turkish sentences without ever reaching for a subject pronoun — which is exactly what a native speaker does.
The six pronouns
Here is the whole set. Read them aloud once; they will stick.
| Pronoun | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ben | I | one person, me |
| sen | you | one person, casual (a friend) |
| o | he / she / it | no gender — all three at once |
| biz | we | me and others |
| siz | you | several people, or one person politely |
| onlar | they | o + the plural ending -lar |
A note on sound before anything else: the o in o is a short, rounded "o," like the o in British "hot," not the long "oh" of English "go." And onlar is simply o with the plural ending -lar glued on — once you can see that, the table has no surprises left.
Ben Türküm, sen Almansın.
I'm Turkish, you're German. (ben = I, sen = you, casual)
O öğretmen, biz öğrenciyiz.
He/She is a teacher, we are students. (o = he or she; biz = we)
Onlar nereden geliyor?
Where are they coming from? (onlar = they)
The first gift: o has no gender
In English you cannot mention a person without instantly deciding he or she. Turkish does not make you choose. The single word o covers he, she, and it all together. A Turkish speaker can tell a long story about a friend and never once reveal whether that friend is a man or a woman — and they genuinely do not notice the gap that an English ear keeps trying to fill.
O çok iyi bir doktor, herkes onu seviyor.
He/She is a very good doctor, everyone loves him/her. (o tells you nothing about gender — and doesn't need to)
Arkadaşım geldi, o da çok yorgun.
My friend has arrived, and he/she is very tired too. (o = my friend, gender unspecified)
So when you meet o, do not hunt for clues about whether it means "he" or "she." There are none, and you do not need any. Just translate it as whoever the conversation is about.
The second gift: you usually drop the pronoun
This is the most important idea on the page, and it is the one that surprises every English speaker. In Turkish, the verb already tells you who the subject is, so you normally leave the pronoun out entirely.
Look at the verb geliyorum ("I'm coming"). That little -um on the end means "I." So geliyorum — all by itself, with no pronoun in front — is a complete sentence:
Geliyorum!
I'm coming! (the -um ending already means 'I' — no pronoun needed)
Türkçe öğreniyoruz.
We're learning Turkish. (the -uz ending means 'we')
Şimdi anladın.
Now you've understood. (the -ın ending means 'you')
Notice there is no ben, no biz, no sen anywhere — and nothing is missing. This is not lazy or informal speech; it is the normal, default way to talk. The verb ending does the pronoun's job, so adding the pronoun on top is like signing your name twice.
This means you can start speaking Turkish today without memorizing when to use which pronoun. Learn the verb endings (covered in personal endings overview), and the subject takes care of itself.
So when DO you say the pronoun?
You add the pronoun when you want to point at the subject on purpose — for emphasis or to set one person against another. The pronoun is like a spotlight you switch on deliberately.
Say it for emphasis — "as for me," "I'm the one":
Ben gidiyorum, sen kal.
I'm leaving, you stay. (ben and sen appear because they're being contrasted)
Bunu o yaptı, ben değil.
He/She did this, not me. (o vs ben — both spelled out for the contrast)
Because a bare pronoun always adds this "as opposed to someone else" flavour, sprinkling ben in front of every verb makes you sound like you are insisting on yourself at every turn. So the rule of thumb for a beginner is simple: leave the pronoun out unless you have a reason to point. The deeper logic of when to put it back lives on the pro-drop page; for now, "drop by default" will carry you a very long way.
sen and siz: the polite "you"
One more thing to register early, because it is a social matter, not just grammar. Turkish has two words for "you":
- sen — for one person you are close to: a friend, a sibling, a child, a peer.
- siz — for several people ("you all"), and for one person you are being polite to: a stranger, an elder, a teacher, anyone you would not address by their first name.
So siz is doing double duty: it is both the plural "you" and the respectful singular "you," exactly the way French vous works. Choosing sen for someone who expects siz sounds too familiar; choosing siz for a close friend sounds oddly cold.
Siz nerede oturuyorsunuz?
Where do you live? (siz — polite, to someone you've just met)
Sen yarın geliyor musun?
Are you coming tomorrow? (sen — to a friend)
When in doubt with a stranger, use siz — politeness is the safe default. There is a fuller guide on this choice at sen vs siz.
o also means "that"
A small bonus to file away: the word o has a second job. Besides "he/she/it," it also means "that (one over there)" — the partner of bu "this." You will meet this fully later; for now, just notice that o can point at a thing as well as a person.
O ne?
What's that? (o = 'that thing' here, not a person)
Context makes it obvious every time, so this overlap never actually causes confusion.
Common mistakes
❌ Ben geliyorum her gün ben okula.
Incorrect — a pronoun stuffed into the sentence twice, out of English habit; the verb already says 'I'.
✅ Her gün okula geliyorum.
I come to school every day.
❌ O bir kız mı yoksa erkek mi? 'O' söylüyor.
Misconception — 'o' has no gender, so the word itself never tells you male or female.
✅ O çok kibar bir insan.
He/She is a very kind person.
❌ Sen geç kaldınız, müdür bey.
Mismatched register and ending — to your boss use the polite siz with its siz-ending: Siz geç kaldınız.
✅ Siz geç kaldınız.
You're late. (polite)
❌ Ben açım ve ben yorgunum.
Over-used pronoun — in a plain statement the endings -ım already carry 'I'; repeating ben sounds heavy.
✅ Açım ve yorgunum.
I'm hungry and tired.
The single habit to break is inserting a pronoun every time, the way English forces you to. A Turkish ear reads each stray ben as emphasis. Drop the pronoun first; add it back only when you mean to point at the subject.
Key takeaways
- The six pronouns: ben (I), sen (you, casual), o (he/she/it), biz (we), siz (you-all / polite you), onlar (they).
- No gender: o is "he," "she," and "it" all in one — one fewer thing to worry about than in English.
- You usually leave the pronoun out: the verb ending already names the subject, so geliyorum alone = "I'm coming."
- Add a pronoun only to emphasize or contrast — a bare ben always means "I, as opposed to others."
- sen is casual, siz is polite-or-plural; with strangers, siz is the safe choice.
Now practice Turkish
Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.
Start learning Turkish→Related Topics
- Personal PronounsA1 — The subject pronouns ben, sen, o, biz, siz, onlar — and the crucial fact that Turkish usually drops them, because the verb ending already names the person.
- Pro-Drop: When to Omit the PronounA2 — Turkish drops subject pronouns by default because the verb already marks person — the real skill is knowing the four situations that put the pronoun back.
- Verb Personal Endings: The Two SetsA1 — Turkish marks the subject on the verb with one of two ending sets; which set you use depends entirely on the tense suffix in front of it, and the 1sg form is the clearest tell.
- sen vs siz: Familiarity and RespectA1 — Turkish has two words for 'you' — sen for intimacy and peers, siz for respect, strangers, and the plural — and choosing between them is a real social decision.