O, kaba biri değil; tam tersine çok kibar ve duyarlı.

to be

Breakdown of O, kaba biri değil; tam tersine çok kibar ve duyarlı.

• çok: very
• o: he
• ve: and

Questions & Answers about O, kaba biri değil; tam tersine çok kibar ve duyarlı.

What does O mean here? Is it he, she, or it?

O is a third-person pronoun in Turkish. Depending on context, it can mean he, she, or it.

In this sentence, because the rest of the sentence describes a person, O most naturally means he or she.

Turkish does not normally mark gender in pronouns, so you need context to know which one is meant.

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Why is there no separate word for is in the sentence?

In Turkish, the verb to be is often not expressed in simple present-tense sentences.

So:

• O kibar. = He/She is polite.
• O duyarlı. = He/She is sensitive/considerate.

In the negative, however, Turkish usually uses değil:

• O kaba değil. = He/She is not rude.

So the sentence does contain the idea of is, but Turkish handles it differently from English.

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Why does Turkish use değil here instead of a negative verb ending?