Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

Pronouns 233
3rd person in the same clause, but it is most commonly understood as referring to the
subject:
(14) Semra Elif’e kendi anahtar-lar-ın-ı vermiş.
own key-PL-3SG.POSS-ACC
‘Semra gave Elif her own keys.’
The more likely intended meaning of (14) is that Semra gave Elif Semra’s own keys;
however, another possible meaning would be that she gave Elif Elif’s own keys.
The antecedent of adjectival kendi can denote an inanimate entity:
(15) Bu karışıklık, sorun-un kendi özellik-ler-in-den kaynaklanıyor.
problem-GEN own property-PL-3SG.POSS-ABL
‘This confusion is a result of the very properties of the problem.’
(16) Bu, evin kendi rengi.
‘This is the original colour of the house.’
18.1.2.2 Inflected kendi-: emphatic, reflexive, simple pronominal and
resumptive usages
The pronoun kendi- can be inflected for person, in which case it combines with the
possessive suffixes described in 8.1.2:
(17) kendim 1st person singular kendimiz 1st person plural
kendin 2nd person singular kendiniz 2nd person plural,
(familiar) or formal singular
kendi(si) 3rd person singular kendileri 3rd person plural
Note that in the case of the 3rd person, the person marker -(s)I is sometimes omitted.
The forms above can be further inflected for case, e.g. kendi-m-den ‘from myself’,
kendi-niz-i ‘(you) yourself/yourselves’ (formal/plural accusative), etc. Note that ‘n’ has to
be attached to the 3rd person forms kendi, kendisi and kendileri when these are inflected
for case, e.g. kendine/kendi-sine ‘to him/her(self)’, kendilerinde ‘on them(selves)’ (6.2,
8.1.3).
(i) Emphatic usage of inflected kendi-:
Kendi- inflected for person (i.e. the forms in (17)) can be used for purposes of
emphasizing the subject pronoun of a main clause, as in I myself, they themselves, etc. In
such emphatic constructions kendi- can be used with or without a pronoun matching it in
person, but in all cases a matching person marker on the predicate is obligatory:
(18) Evde (ben) kendim oturacağım için bu renkleri seçtim.
I self-1SG.POSS
‘I chose these colours because I will be living in the house myself.’
(19) (O) kendi(si) istemiş sınava girmeyi.
‘S/he herself/himself wanted to take an exam.’