kim

Who

Level 1

Kim is the Turkish word for 'who'. It functions as a pronoun and changes its form based on its role in the sentence (subject, object, or possessor).

How It Works

In Turkish, kim is used exclusively for people. It is a true pronoun, meaning it replaces a noun in a question.

1. Case Declension:
Because it is a pronoun, it must take case endings if it is not the subject of the sentence:

  • Kim: Who (Subject)
  • Kimi: Whom (Accusative)
  • Kime: To whom (Dative)
  • Kimde: With/at whom (Locative)
  • Kimden: From whom (Ablative)
  • Kimin: Whose (Genitive, also known as Tamlayan hâli)
  • Kiminle: With whom (Instrumental - note that pronouns use the genitive base 'kimin' before adding '-le')

2. Personal Endings (The Copula):
To ask 'Who am I?', 'Who are you?', etc., you attach personal endings directly to kim, just like in sentences without a verb. For example: Kimsin? (Who are you?) or O kim? (Who is he/she?).

3. Plural Form:
If you expect the answer to be multiple people, you can use Kimler (Who all?).

4. Word Order:
Turkish is a SOV (Subject-Object-Verb) language. The question word usually sits in the focus position immediately before the verb to emphasize what is being asked.

Examples (6)

  1. Kim geliyor?

    Who is coming?

    Word by Word: Who is-coming?

    Here 'kim' is the subject of the sentence in the plain form.

  2. Sen kimsin?

    Who are you?

    Word by Word: You who-are-you?

    The personal ending '-sin' is attached to 'kim' to ask 'Who are you?'.

  3. Bu anahtarlar kimin?

    Whose are these keys?

    Word by Word: These keys whose?

    The genitive suffix '-in' is added to 'kim' to ask about possession.

  4. Dün kiminle konuştun?

    Who did you talk with yesterday?

    Word by Word: Yesterday with-whom you-talked?

    The instrumental form 'kiminle' is created by adding '-le' to the genitive form 'kimin'.

  5. Bu hediye kime?

    Who is this gift for?

    Word by Word: This gift to-whom?

    The dative suffix '-e' indicates the direction or recipient of the gift.

  6. Kimler partiye gidiyor?

    Who (all) is going to the party?

    Word by Word: Who-plural to-party is-going?

    Using the plural suffix '-ler' implies the speaker expects more than one person to be going.

Common Mistakes

  • Using 'kim' as a relative pronoun (like 'The man who...').

    Gelen adam kim zengin.
    Gelen adam zengin.

    In Turkish, 'kim' is mainly a question word. To describe 'the man who came', you must use a participle like -(y)en.

  • Forgetting the case suffix when 'who' is the object.

    Kim arıyorsun?
    Kimi arıyorsun?

    If you are looking for/calling someone, 'who' is the object and needs the accusative case suffix '-i'.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

kimLevel 1Who

Learn This First

To understand 'kim' (who), you should be familiar with basic question structures in Turkish, how to use demonstrative pronouns to point to people, and how nominal sentences (sentences without verbs) are formed.

Words in This Pattern

kim