Proto-Turkic/Pronouns and numbers

Welcome to your first Proto-Turkic lesson!

Pronouns

 * I - *bẹ //, *ben- //
 * we - *biŕ //
 * you (singular) - *sẹ //, *sen- //
 * you (plural) - *siŕ //
 * he/she/it - *ol //, *an- //
 * they - *olar // (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 has 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 //
 * our - *biŕ- > *biŕniŋ //
 * your - *sẹ- > *seniŋ //
 * your (plural) - *siŕ- > *siŕniŋ //
 * him/her/its - *an- > *anïŋ //
 * their - *olar- > *olarnïŋ // (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 //
 * two - *ẹki //
 * three - *üč //
 * four - *tȫrt //
 * five - *bẹ̄ĺ //
 * six - *altï //
 * seven - *yẹti //
 * eight - *sekiŕ //
 * nine - *tokuŕ //
 * ten - *ōn //
 * 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?