Grammar in brief: Pronouns: me, mine, with me

1At a glance

The pronoun takes the same case as kim in the question: Kimi bekliyorsun? — Seni! Kiminle geliyorsun? — Onunla. Know the question, and you know the answer.

kim?who?	kimde?who has it?	kime?to whom?	kimden?from whom?	kimin?whose?	kiminle?with whom?	kimi?whom?
benI	bende	bana	benden	benim	benimle	beni
senyou	sende	sana	senden	senin	seninle	seni
ohe, she, it	onda	ona	ondan	onun	onunla	onu
bizwe	bizde	bize	bizden	bizim	bizimle	bizi
sizyou (pl.)	sizde	size	sizden	sizin	sizinle	sizi
onlarthey	onlarda	onlara	onlardan	onların	onlarla	onları

2The key points

There are six: ben, sen, o, biz, siz, onlar. And no gender: o is he, she and it alike.
Siz is “you” to several people, and the polite “you” to one.
Most of the time the pronoun goes unsaid: the ending already knows who. Geliyorum is “I’m coming” all by itself. You add ben to lean on it, or to set it against someone: Ben çay içiyorum, sen?
Bu, şu, o: “this” right here, “that” a little way off, and “that” far away. The far o is the same word as “he”.
A case goes on a pronoun just as on any word, with the same harmony: bizde, size, onlardan, sizi.
O picks up an n before any case: ona, onu, onunla. Bu and şu do the same: buna, bunu, şunu.

3How it works

Nearly the whole table plays by the rules: the case goes onto the pronoun as onto any word. There are just three exceptions, and you can spot all of them in it.

ben → bana, sen → sana— in “to whom” ben and sen change their vowel

ben → benim, biz → bizim— their “whose” ends in -⁠im, not -⁠in

benim → benimle, onlar → onlarla— “with” goes onto “whose”; only onlar takes -⁠la plain

4In real life

— Kim geldi? — Ben!— Who’s that? — Me!

Akşam bize gel, annem börek yapıyor.Come round to ours tonight, my mum’s making börek.

Bana bir çay, ona bir kahve, lütfen.A tea for me and a coffee for him, please.

— Bu çiçekler senden mi? — Benden değil, Can’dan.— Are these flowers from you? — Not from me. From Can.

— Dün kiminle buluştun? — Ayşe’yle. Onunla kahve içtik.— Who did you meet up with yesterday? — Ayşe. We had a coffee.

— Bu adamı tanıyor musun? — Evet, o bizim komşumuz.— Do you know this man? — Yes, he’s our neighbour.

Bunu değil, şunu istiyorum.Not this one. I want that one.

Alo, Can? Seni bekliyoruz, neredesin?Hello, Can? We’re waiting for you, where are you?

5Where it’s easy to slip

Not like this	Like this	Why
Bene bak!	Bana bak!	In “to whom”, ben changes its vowel.
Bu kalem benin.	Bu kalem benim.	ben and biz take -⁠im, not -⁠in.
Anahtar oda.	Anahtar onda.	o takes an n before a case. And oda is a room.
onlarınla	onlarla	onlar takes -⁠la plain, without the “whose”.
Sen seviyorum.	Seni seviyorum.	sevmek has a “whom?”, so it’s seni.

Evinde is both “at your place” and “at his place”, and you can’t hear the difference. When it matters whose, say the pronoun: senin evinde or onun evinde. That’s what it’s there for.

6Check yourself

Four questions, and each needs two rules at once: which case it takes, and what the pronoun does with it. Check every letter.

1How do you say “Look at me, not at him”?

2“Coming to the market with us tomorrow?” Fill in the pronoun.

Yarın ? pazara geliyor musun?

3“— Do you know Ayşe? — Yes, I saw her at the market yesterday.” Fill in the pronoun.

— Ayşe’yi tanıyor musun? — Evet, ? dün pazarda gördüm.

4Someone asks you Bu anahtar senin mi? How do you say “No, it’s not mine, it’s his”?