Arkadaşım bana yeni projesini anlattı.

my

Breakdown of Arkadaşım bana yeni projesini anlattı.

• arkadaş: the friend
• yeni: new
• onun: his

Questions & Answers about Arkadaşım bana yeni projesini anlattı.

Why does arkadaşım mean my friend instead of just friend?

Because Turkish usually shows possession with a suffix attached to the noun.

• arkadaş = friend
• arkadaşım = my friend

The ending -ım is the 1st person singular possessive suffix: my.

So:

• arkadaş → friend
• arkadaşım → my friend
• arkadaşın → your friend
• arkadaşı → his/her friend

The exact vowel in the suffix changes because of vowel harmony, which is why it is -ım here.

Why is it bana and not ben?

Because bana is the dative form of ben.

• ben = I
• bana = to me

The verb anlatmak takes the person receiving the information in the dative case.

So:

• Arkadaşım bana anlattı = My friend told me
• literally: My friend told to me

This is very normal in Turkish. Many verbs use case endings where English would just use word order or a preposition.

Also, ben → bana is slightly irregular, just like:

• sen → sana

What is happening in projesini?