Forms of Address in Turkish: Bey, Beyefendi, Hanım, and Hanımefendi

In Turkish, there are several polite and formal ways to address people. This guide explains the most common forms of address — Bey, Hanım, beyefendi, and hanımefendi — showing when and how to use them in everyday situations.

Bey and Hanım

When we address or refer to people in a formal or polite way:

• We use first/given name + Bey (almost equivalent to Mr) for men.

• We use first/given name + Hanım (almost equivalent to Miss/Mrs/Ms) for any woman, single or married.

Examples:

• Selim Bey → Literally, Mr Selim

• Zeynep Hanım → Literally, Miss/Mrs/Ms Zeynep

In Turkish we do not use surnames/last names to address or refer to people,

so the form of address:

Mr and Mrs + surname/last name has no equivalent in Turkish.

Instead, we say:

• Selim Bey ve Zeynep Hanım → Literally, Mr Selim and Mrs Zeynep

Or

• Selim Bey ve eşi Zeynep Hanım → Literally, Mr Selim and his wife Mrs Zeynep

English form of address, for example, Mr and Mrs Smith, may literally translate as Bay ve Bayan Smith, but this form is not used in natural Turkish.

Beyefendi and Hanımefendi

When we are speaking to a man or a woman we do not know, we use beyefendi and hanımefendi, almost equivalent to sir and madam/ma'am (or Miss).

Examples:

• Kapalıyız, beyefendi. → We are closed, sir.

• Hanımefendi! Anahtarlarınızı düşürdünüz. → Madam/Ma’am! You dropped your keys.

Note that when addressing people as Bey/beyefendi or Hanım/hanımefendi, we always use the 2nd person plural form in Turkish. Also, when adding inflectional suffixes after Bey and Hanım, we use an apostrophe (see Turkish Apostrophe: Rules and Examples for details). Bey and Hanım are capitalized, while beyefendi and hanımefendi are written in lowercase. For more details on capitalization rules, see Capital Letters in Turkish: Rules and Examples.

Here are more examples:

• Hoş geldiniz, hanımefendi. → Welcome, madam/ma’am.

• Beyefendi! Bu araba sizin mi? → Sir! This car is yours?

• Miray Hanım, Arkın Bey sizi görmek istiyor. → Ms Miray, Mr Arkın would like to see you.

• Teşekkür ederim, Furkan Bey. Siz nasılsınız? → Thank you, Mr Furkan. How are you?

In everyday spoken Turkish, informally, when children and young people address or refer to older people (whether they know them or not), they use abi (a:bi) or amca (literally, elder brother and paternal uncle) for men, and they use abla or teyze (literally, elder sister and maternal aunt) for women. However, some women today do not like being addressed as abla or teyze.

I included this lesson as an appendix in my book easy Turkish Grammar with answers 1 (A1–A2).

The book contains 36 main units and 11 additional appendices.

You can check out the book here.