Proto-Turkic/Pronouns and numbers

Welcome to your first Proto-Turkic lesson!

Pronouns

• I - *bẹ /be/, *ben- /bɛn-/
• we - *biŕ /birʲ/
• you (singular) - *sẹ /se/, *sen- /sɛn-/
• you (plural) - *siŕ /sirʲ/
• he/she/it - *ol /ol/, *an- /än-/
• they - *olar /olär/ (unclear)

Whether the Chuvash эпӗ derives from *ben or *bẹ is a matter of debate. However, the word п becomes м when it is suffixed in Chuvash and this phonetic change is not seen in эпӗ (epĕ), indicating that it is more likely to derive from *bẹ. The pronoun *olar is unclear, since it was derived from *ol with a plural ending, Common Turkic have the reflexes of it, but Chuvash has вӗсем (vĕsem) instead (many plural endings of Proto-Turkic are disputed, see also the Plurality section of the third lesson).

The fact that the word has not experienced m-n affinity in Tonyukuk inscription, Old Anatolian Turkish, Ottoman Turkish and Turkish is proof that this is a sound development that developed later. Therefore, the letter b does not turn into m when we add a suffix starting with n to the pronoun that starts with b. Also, pronouns ending in a vowel always take the n consonant when adding suffixes.

• my - *bẹ- > *beniŋ /beniŋ/
• our - *biŕ- > *biŕniŋ /birʲniŋ/
• your - *sẹ- > *seniŋ /seniŋ/
• your (plural) - *siŕ- > *siŕniŋ /sirʲniŋ/
• him/her/its - *an- > *anïŋ /änɨŋ/
• their - *olar- > *olarnïŋ /olärnɨŋ/ (unclear)

And unlike many other languages, there is no grammatical gender in Proto-Turkic. So there is no distinction between he, she and it. There's only ol. And unlike modern Turkic languages, there are no words like "am/is/are".

Numbers

Numbers in Proto-Turkic are in decimal basis, so the components for tens are often less clear, like suppletion between *ẹki "two" and *yẹgirmi "twenty", or adding suffixes which unclear in meaning like *altï "six" and *altmïĺ "sixty". To make teens, simply add numbers after tens (*ōn bīr "eleven", *ōn ẹki "twelve", *ōn üč "thirteen", ...).

• one - *bīr /biːr/
• two - *ẹki /eki/
• three - *üč /ytʃ/
• four - *dȫrt /døːrt~dœːrt/
• five - *bēĺ(k) /bɛːlʲ(k)/
• six - *altï /ältɨ/
• seven - *yẹti /jeti/
• eight - *sẹkiŕ /sekirʲ/
• nine - *tokuŕ /tokurʲ/
• ten - *ōn /oːn/
• twenty - *yẹgirmi
• thirty - *otuŕ
• forty - *kïrk
• fifty - *ellig
• sixty - *altmïĺ
• seventy - *yẹtmiĺ
• eighty - *sẹkiŕ ōn
• ninety - *tokuŕ ōn
• hundred - *yǖŕ
• thousand - *bïŋ

In Proto-Turkic we provide questions with *ka- and *nē-. In this case, the words *kanča and *nēnče are used to ask how much something is.

A: How much barley is there? - Kanča/nēnče arpa bār?

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