herkes
“herkes” — everyone in Turkish. Pronoun, level A1, topic — pronouns. From her, "every", and kes, "a person". The verb stays singular after it: herkes geldi — everyone came. In a live sentence: “Herkes burada” — Everyone is here. 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 | herkes |
| Translation | everyone |
| Part of speech | pronoun |
| Level | A1 |
- herkeseveryone
Why it looks that way
From her, "every", and kes, "a person". The verb stays singular after it: herkes geldi — everyone came.
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.
- Herkes buradaEveryone is here
- Herkes iyiEveryone is fine
- Herkes bir kitap aldıEveryone took a book
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 “everyone” in Turkish?
From her, "every", and kes, "a person". The verb stays singular after it: herkes geldi — everyone came.
- 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 “everyone” in Turkish?
«herkes». In a live sentence: “Herkes burada” — Everyone is here. 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?
From her, "every", and kes, "a person". The verb stays singular after it: herkes geldi — everyone came. 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.