böyle
“böyle” — such in Turkish. Pronoun, level A1, topic — pronouns. Three steps here too: böyle is "like this, like mine", şöyle is "like that over there", öyle is "like you said". In a live sentence: “Böyle bir şey görmedim” — I have never seen such a thing. You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 26 words in the set “pronouns” in the Turkish course.
In short
| Written in Turkish | böyle |
| Translation | such |
| Part of speech | pronoun |
| Level | A1 |
- böylesuch
Why it looks that way
Three steps here too: böyle is "like this, like mine", şöyle is "like that over there", öyle is "like you said".
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Böyle bir şey görmedimI have never seen such a thing
Nearby words: pronouns
I, you, we, they. There is a handful of them, they turn up in every sentence, and politeness rides on them: most of these languages keep a formal “you” apart from a familiar one, and choosing the wrong one is noticed faster than a mispronounced word.
- benIUsually dropped in speech: the verb ending already announces who is acting, like a built-in subject pronoun.
- senyou (informal)Turks switch to first names and sen fast — with peers, in shops, with kids. The verb next to sen grows a tail -sin/-sın/-sun/-sün by vowel harmony: nasılsın, geliyorsun.
- sizyou (formal or plural)Both the polite "you" to one person and "you" for a group — English "you" pulled double duty, with the verb ending telling you which.
- oheTurkish has no grammatical gender at all: one little "o" covers he, she and it. The same word doubles as "that" when pointing at things.
- bizweThe verb next to biz ends in -iz/-ız/-uz/-üz: geliyoruz, biliriz. The pronoun itself is usually dropped — the ending has already said it all.
- onlarthey"o" plus "-lar", the plural ending. You will meet the same tail in kitaplar — "books".
- benimmyRarely stands alone: the noun must take its own tail — benim evim, literally "my house-my". Possession agreed twice.
- seninyour (informal)The partner of benim and works the same way: senin adın — "your name-your". The tail on the noun is not optional.
- bizimourThe noun tail is -imiz: bizim evimiz. It is longer than the others and the one people drop most often.
- sizinyour (formal or plural)Also the polite "your". Just like English, Turkish does not separate "your" of a group from a polite "your" to one person.
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “pronouns”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “such” in Turkish?
Three steps here too: böyle is "like this, like mine", şöyle is "like that over there", öyle is "like you said".
- How do you say “my” in Turkish?
Rarely stands alone: the noun must take its own tail — benim evim, literally "my house-my". Possession agreed twice.
- How do you say “you (formal or plural)” in Turkish?
Both the polite "you" to one person and "you" for a group — English "you" pulled double duty, with the verb ending telling you which.
- How do you say “your (formal or plural)” in Turkish?
Also the polite "your". Just like English, Turkish does not separate "your" of a group from a polite "your" to one person.
- How do you say “they” in Turkish?
"o" plus "-lar", the plural ending. You will meet the same tail in kitaplar — "books".
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “such” in Turkish?
«böyle». In a live sentence: “Böyle bir şey görmedim” — I have never seen such a thing. You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Pronoun, level A1, from the set “pronouns”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
Three steps here too: böyle is "like this, like mine", şöyle is "like that over there", öyle is "like you said". A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.