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Pretty Good Pronoun Charts

So you can figure out who did what to whom...

Language-learning pages:
  • How To Learn Basic Turkish --
    A Practical Philosophy for beginners

    (Found in the 'Introduction to The Whole Earth Catalog of Turkish Movies'.)
  • Why Off-color language is important too...
  • Translating Turkish, the basics
  • Translating Turkish, advanced
  • Essential Turkish Vocabulary
  • Turkish Verbs
  • Essential Idioms, Index
  • Essential Suffixes, Index
  • Sentence Structure, Standard
  • Sentence Structure Variations
  • Turkish Pronunciation
  • Turkish Accenting
  • Numbers in Turkish
  • Other Turkish Language Difficulties
  • Self Importance
    Some charts to help keep yourself... straight.

    The pronouns of kendi; self, oneself, own
    English
    myself
    yourself
    him/her/it self
    ourselves
    yourselves
    themselves
    Turkish
    Denoting simple reflexive meaning
    Nominative case
    kendim kendin kendi (kendisi) kendimiz kendiniz kendileri
    Denoting Direct Object
    Accusative case
    kendimi kendini kendisini
    (kendini)
    kendimizi kendinizi kendilerini
    Denoting Movement toward self Dative Case kendime kendine kendisine
    (kendine)
    kendimize kendinize kendilerine
    Denoting No movement --
    self stays in place

    Locative Case
    kendimde kendinde kendisinde
    (kendinde)
    kendimizde kendinizde kendilerinde
    Denoting Movement away from self
    Ablative Case
    kendimden kendinden kendisinden
    (kendinden)
    kendimizden kendinizden kendilerinden
    In which self acts as a possessive adjective
    modifying a noun

    Genitive Case
    kendimin kendinin kendisinin
    (kendinin)
    kendimizin kendinizin kendilerinin
    In which self acts as an adverb kendimce kendince kendisince
    (kendince)
    kendimizce kendinizce kendilerince

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    Example Sentences -- kendi; self
    kendim Bu boktan yemeği kendim hazırladım; I prepared this crappy meal myself.
    kendimi Las Vegasa gittim. Kısa zamanda kendimi parasız buldum; I went to Las Vegas. And very soon, I found myself penniless.
    kendime Geçen hafta kendime yeni bir Mercedes Benz aldım; I bought myself a new Mercedes Benz last week. (just kidding!)
    kendimde Bu yaştan sonra kendimde aralıksız şey yapacak güç bulamıyorum -- spor; At this age, I can't find the strength in me for non-stop uhhh... sports. (Who there in cyberspace had their mind in the gutter now? Was that you, Queensland Sheba?)
    kendimdenKilisede sarhoş olduğum için kendimden utanyorum; I'm ashamed of myself for being drunk at the church service. (It was only the second time, though...)
    kendiminBu hata kendimin, ve seni bir daha asla dinlemeyeceğim, Brutus; This is my own mistake, and I'll never listen to you again, Brutus!
    kendimceBenım de kendimce bir fikrim var. Simdi, eğer bir dakika için kıpırdamazsan...; I have an idea, according to my own thinking. Now if you'll just hold still for a minute...
    kendinKusura bakma ama bu Kangalı kendin istedin; Excuuuse me, but you yourself wanted this Kangal. [a Kangal is Turkish breed of large dog. Any other questions?]
    kendiniNeden kendini bu kadar üzüyorsun? Sadece bu hafta senin ikinci oto kazan; Why are you so upset yourself? It's only your second auto accident -- this week.
    kendineYarın kendine yeni bir kısa şort al. Bu şort, arkadan yırtıldı; Buy yourself some new short-shorts tomorrow. These are torn up the back. (We'll have a closer look, if you like...now where did we put our glasses?)
    kendindeNiçin kendinde hiç suç aramıyorsun? Bu, senin dördüncü evliliğin; Why don't you look for any guilt inside yourself. This is your fourth marriage! (Don't look our way...we only lost at love once...officially)
    kendisindenNeden kendisinden korkuyorsun? Richard Gere seni ısırmaz; What are you afraid of? Richard Gere won't bite you. (Well, sometimes we have to make examples for the ladies too, ya know...)
    kendininAraba kendinin, buna rağmen çok hor kullanıyor -- kocası gibi; It's her own car. In spite of that, she treats it abusively -- like her husband.
    kendinceKendince, Amerika'nın ideal bir ülke oldğunu mu düşünüyorsun? Git, birde Los Angeles'i gör!; So...In your opinion, you think that America is a perfect country? Well, go see Los Angeles then! (or New York or Atlanta or Chicago or Dallas or Miami or Washington, D.C. or Providence or...)

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    To strengthen the meaning of "self" -- throw in an additional kendi,
    for good measure!...
    Perihanın adasına kendi kendime yüzdüm; I personally swam to Perihan's Island! (as opposed to the less emphatic, Perihanın adasına kendim yüzdüm; I swam to Perihan's island myself.)
    Bu aptal kararı kendi kendine verdin; You made this stupid decision on your own accord.
    Çok zengin bir adam. Bodrumu kendi kendine oturmak için satın aldı; He's a very wealthy man. He bought Bodrum (Turkey's resort city for the rich and famous) so he could live there by himself ! [Note that kendi kendine is used in both sentences above...]
    Onlarla çok meşgulüz, kendi kendimizin farkında değiliz; We got so involved with them, that we forgot to look out for ourselves.
    Kendi kendinize temiz olduğunuzu düşünürsünüz, ama çocuklarınız kokar; You seem to think that you yourselves are nice people, but your children stink!
    Ağostusta Parise gitmek iyi bir fikir değildi. Ama planlarını kendi kendilerine yapmak istediler; It wasn't a good idea to go to Paris in August, but they wanted to make their own plans without anybody's help.
    Please note -- in the constructions above, the word following kendi must always have some sort of a suffix ending, depending on its usage in the rest of the sentence.
    It can not stand alone.
    For example, kendim by itself is valid, but kendi kendim (without a suffix) is not a valid term for (or pertaining to) "myself" -- in a Turkish sentence.
    (See the complete first example above)

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    Another way to strengthen the meaning of "self", is to add in the personal pronouns and include the word bizzat; in person, on his/her/it's own...
    İzzet, bizzat o kendisi iyi bir zat; Izzet, he himself -- in person -- is a good guy.
    Language-learning pages:
  • How To Learn Basic Turkish --
    A Practical Philosophy for beginners

    (Found in the 'Introduction to The Whole Earth Catalog of Turkish Movies'.)
  • Why Off-color language is important too...
  • Translating Turkish, the basics
  • Translating Turkish, advanced
  • Essential Turkish Vocabulary
  • Turkish Verbs
  • Essential Idioms, Index
  • Essential Suffixes, Index
  • Sentence Structure, Standard
  • Sentence Structure Variations
  • Turkish Pronunciation
  • Turkish Accenting
  • Numbers in Turkish
  • Other Turkish Language Difficulties
  • This page is based on ideas found in Mehmet Hengirmen's Türkçe Dilbilgisi.
    Thanks Mehmet Bey!

    Learn Turkish language

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