Turkish: A Comprehensive Grammar

The antecedent can also be a constituent other than the subject:
(34) Sanki bana kendi-m-i anlatıyorlardı.
I(DAT) self-1SG.POSS-ACC
‘[It was] as if they were talking to me about myself.’
In the absence of an antecedent within the same clause, reflexive kendi-may refer to a
person indicated in the superordinate clause:
(35) [Kendimize araba almak] istiyoruz.
‘We want to buy a car for ourselves.’
There are also cases where there is no antecedent in the sentence, yet a reflexive can still
be used because the person to whom it refers is understood to be the subject of a nonperson-marked
verb, such as almak below:
(36) Bu durum-da [kendi-niz-e araba al-mak] çok zor olacak.
this situation-LOC self-2PL.POSS-DAT car buy-VN very difficult be-FUT
‘Under these circumstances it is going to be very difficult [for you] to buy a car
for yourself.’
There is a slight difference in the reflexive usage of the two 3rd person forms kendi and
kendisi. The antecedent of kendi is more likely to be within the same clause, indicated
either by a noun phrase or by person marking on the verb:
(37)
Turkish: A comprehensive grammar 236
(a) Erol [Ziya’nın kendin-e bir araba al-dığ-ın]-ı san-ıyor.
Erol Ziya-GEN self-DAT a car buy-VN-3SG.POSS-ACC think-IMPF
‘Erol thinks Ziya bought a car for himself.’
(b) Erol [kendine bir araba aldığın]- ı sanıyor.
‘Erol thinks he bought a car for himself.’
In (37a) Ziya is by far the most probable antecedent for kendi. In (37b), where the subject
of the subordinate clause is not expressed by an overt noun phrase (hence the antecedent
is the possessive marker), the most likely referent is Erol.
The 3rd person form kendisi, on the other hand, can refer either to an antecedent in its
own clause, in which case it is used as a reflexive, or (much more freely than kendi) to an
antecedent in the superordinate clause, in which case it is used as a simple personal
pronoun (see (iii) below).
(38) Erol [Ziya’nın kendi-sin-e bir araba al-ma-sın]-ı söyle-di.
Erol Ziya-GEN self/s/he-3SG.POSS-DAT a car buy-VN-3SG.POSS-ACC tell-PF
(i) ‘Erol told Ziya to buy a car for himself.’
(ii) ‘Erol told Ziya to buy him a car.’ (him=Erol or someone else)
(iii) Third person simple pronominal usage of inflected kendi-:
The 3rd person form kendisi can be used as a simple personal pronoun corresponding
to he or she. In the contexts below, where the antecedent is a person mentioned in the
preceding sentence, kendisi is interchangeable with, but slightly more formal than, o.