Questions & Answers about O, bizim bu projeyi birlikte bitireceğimizi biliyor.
What does O mean here, and do we really need to use it?
O is the third‑person singular pronoun in Turkish. It can mean he, she, or it, depending on context (Turkish doesn’t mark gender).
- In this sentence, context will tell you whether it’s “he” or “she”.
- You can omit it:
Bizim bu projeyi birlikte bitireceğimizi biliyor.
still means “He/She knows that we will finish this project together.” - Using O just makes the subject explicit or slightly emphasized; in neutral everyday speech, people often drop it when it’s clear from context.
Why is it bizim, not biz? Why can’t we say “biz bu projeyi birlikte bitireceğimizi biliyor”?
In Turkish, when you have a subordinate clause used like a noun (e.g. “that we will finish…”), its subject must normally be in the genitive form.
- biz = we
- bizim = our
In bizim bu projeyi birlikte bitireceğimizi, the subject of the subordinate clause “that we will finish this project together” is bizim (“our”), not biz. This is the standard pattern:
- bizim gelmemiz = our coming / that we come
- senin söylemen = your saying / that you say
- onların yardım etmesi = their helping / that they help
So biz in front of bitireceğimizi would be ungrammatical here; you need bizim.
Can we drop bizim and still keep the same meaning?