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Turkish is written with the Latin alphabet in the form fixed in 1928: twenty-nine letters, one letter for each sound and one sound for each letter. A word is therefore said as it is written, and no letter is silent except in one case, ğ, which has no sound of its own. An English speaker meets four difficulties: the letters ı (without a dot), ö and ü, which English has no sound for; c, which is said “j” and never “k” or “s”; j, ş and ç, which are single letters where English uses groups; and the quick tapped r. Every vowel is said in full, in an unstressed syllable as in a stressed one.
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The Turkish alphabet
The alphabet has eight vowels (a e ı i o ö u ü) and twenty-one consonants. It has no q, w or x: these letters are found only in foreign words and names (Washington), and Turkish writes such sounds with k, v and ks (taksi). Five letters carry a mark that makes them different letters: ç, ş, ö and ü are placed after c, s, o and u, and ğ follows g. Dotted i and dotless ı are two letters, with two capitals, İ and I. Consonants are named with an “e” after them (be, ce, de) and vowels are named after their sound.
A letter’s name is what you say when you spell a word aloud, for example your name or address on the phone.
| Letter | Name | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A a | a /aː/ | /a/ | ay | like “a” in “father” (ay); never “ay” as in “name” said a, like “a” in “father”; never “ay” |
| B b | be /beː/ | /b/ | bir | as in English (bir) said be, like “beh” with a short “e” as in “bed” |
| C c | ce /dʒeː/ | /dʒ/ | cevap ceket | the “j” of “jam” (cevap, ceket); never “k” and never “s”, even before e and i said ce, “jeh”, with the “j” of “jam”; never “see” or “kay” |
| Ç ç | çe /tʃeː/ | said çe, “cheh”, with the “ch” of “chip” | ||
| D d | de /deː/ | /d/ | dağ | as in English (dağ), the tongue against the upper teeth said de, “deh”, with a short “e” as in “bed” |
| E e | e /eː/ | /e/ | ev | like “e” in “bed” (ev); never “ee” said e, like “e” in “bed”; never “ee” |
| F f | fe /feː/ | /f/ | telefon | as in English (telefon) said fe, “feh”, with a short “e” as in “bed” |
| G g | ge /ɟeː/ | /ɡ/ · /ɟ/ | göz | the “g” of “go” (göz); before e, i, ö and ü it is said further forward in the mouth, with a light “y” after it (gel, güzel) said ge, “geh”, with the “g” of “go” |
| Ğ ğ | yumuşak ge /jumuˈʃak ɟeː/ | said yumuşak ge (“soft g”), “yoo-moo-SHAK geh”; it is not a “g” | ||
| H h | he /heː/ | /h/ | hayır sabah | the “h” of “hat”, always said, at the end of a word too (hayır, sabah); never silent as in “hour” said he, “heh”, with the “h” of “hat” |
| I ı | ı /ɯː/ | said ı, the vowel of kız: an “oo” as in “book” with the lips spread; never “eye” or “ee” | ||
| I i | i /iː/ | /i/ | iki | like “ee” in “see”, but short (iki); never “eye” or the “i” of “bit” said i, like “ee” in “see”; never “eye” |
| J j | je /ʒeː/ | /ʒ/ | plaj garaj | the “s” of “pleasure” (plaj, garaj); a letter of loanwords, never the “j” of “jam” said je, “zheh”, with the “s” of “pleasure”; a letter of loanwords |
| K k | ke /ceː/ | /k/ · /c/ | kapı | the “k” of “key” (kapı); before e, i, ö and ü it is said further forward, with a light “y” after it (kedi) said ke, “keh”, with the “k” of “key” |
| L l | le /leː/ | /ɫ/ · /l/ | elli | a clear “l”, as in “leaf”, next to e, i, ö and ü (göl); a dark “l”, as in “full”, next to a, ı, o and u (okul) said le, “leh”, with a short “e” as in “bed” |
| M m | me /meː/ | /m/ | masa | as in English (masa) said me, “meh”, with a short “e” as in “bed” |
| N n | ne /neː/ | /n/ | anne | as in English (anne) said ne, “neh”, with a short “e” as in “bed” |
| O o | o /oː/ | /o/ | çocuk | like “o” in “more” without the glide into “oo” (çocuk); never “oh” as in “go” said o, like “o” in “more” without the glide into “oo”; never “oh” as in “go” |
| Ö ö | ö /œː/ | said ö, the vowel of göz: the lips of “oh” saying the “e” of “bed” | ||
| P p | pe /peː/ | /p/ | plaj | as in English (plaj) said pe, “peh”, with a short “e” as in “bed” |
| R r | re /ɾeː/ | /ɾ/ | bir | a quick tap of the tongue, like the “tt” of American “butter” (bir); said at the end of a word too; never the English r said re, “reh”, with a quick tap of the tongue |
| S s | se /seː/ | /s/ | su | the “s” of “sun”, always (su); never “z”, even between two vowels said se, “seh”, with the “s” of “sun” |
| Ş ş | şe /ʃeː/ | said şe, “sheh”, with the “sh” of “ship” | ||
| T t | te /teː/ | /t/ | öğretmen | as in English (öğretmen), the tongue against the upper teeth said te, “teh”, with a short “e” as in “bed” |
| U u | u /uː/ | /u/ | su | like “oo” in “food” (su); never “you” or the “u” of “but” said u, like “oo” in “food”; never “you” |
| Ü ü | ü /yː/ | said ü, the vowel of üç: the lips of “oo” saying “ee” | ||
| V v | ve /veː/ | /v/ | cevap | as in English (cevap) said ve, “veh”, with the “v” of “van” |
| Y y | ye /jeː/ | /j/ | yok ay | the “y” of “yes”, at the end of a word and after a vowel too (yok, ay); ay rhymes with “eye” said ye, “yeh”, with the “y” of “yes” |
| Z z | ze /zeː/ | /z/ | kız | the “z” of “zoo” (kız) said ze, “zeh”, with the “z” of “zoo” |
Spelling aloud. A word is spelt aloud with the name of each letter: anne (“mother”) is spelt a – ne – ne – e. A letter with a mark is named with its own name, since ç, ş, ö, ü and ğ are separate letters (çe, şe, ö, ü, yumuşak ge); ı and i are told apart as “dotless” and “dotted”. The question Nasıl yazılır? means “How is it written?”.
- annemother
- şekersugar
- çaytea
Remember
In Turkish, c is named ce, “jeh”, and j je, “zheh”; ğ is named “soft g”. The consonant names are all a consonant followed by a short “e”, so that k is “keh”, never “kay”.
Most consonants are said much as in English: b, d, f, m, n, p, s, t, v and z. Said differently are c, j, r, y, h, g, k and l, and above all the vowels ı, ö and ü, which are in the part « Written marks ». Every vowel is pure and short: it does not glide, as English “no” ends in “oo” and “day” in “ee”.
Difference from English
English spells one sound in many ways and one letter in many sounds: “c” is “k” in “cat” and “s” in “city”. Turkish has one letter for each sound. c is always “j”, s always “s”, h always breathed, e always the “e” of “bed”. A letter that is not found in English, such as ç, ş, ö, ü, ı or ğ, is a letter of its own, not a letter with an accent, and it has its own place in the alphabet and in the dictionary.
- cevap / ceketanswer / jacket
- gel / güzelcome / beautiful
- kapı / kedidoor / cat
- göl / okullake / school
- birone
- yokthere is not
Eight vowels in two groups
The eight vowels are grouped by where the tongue is: front e i ö ü and back a ı o u. A Turkish word draws its vowels from one group, and the endings added to it follow its last vowel. This is called vowel harmony, and it is taught with the grammar of A1. The two groups also explain why l, g and k are fronted beside e i ö ü and not beside a ı o u.
Common mistakes
[ˈkedi]→ [ˈcedi]In kedi, the k is said further forward in the mouth, beside the front vowel e.[ˈmaza]→ [ˈmasa]Between two vowels s stays “s”: masa is said MAH-sah, never with a “z”.[ˈbiɹ]→ [ˈbiɾ]In bir, r is a quick tap of the tongue, never the English r.
Practise
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Letter groups
Turkish has no spelling of its own made of two letters, as English has “sh” or “ch”: those sounds are single letters (ş, ç). Two identical consonants are written side by side in some words, and both are said: the consonant is simply held longer.
| Spelling | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| nn | /nː/ | anne | a long “n”, held for two beats (anne); the two letters are said, as in English “unnamed”, and the final e is said too |
| ll | /lː/ | elli | a long “l”, held for two beats (elli); the two letters are said, as in English “wholly” |
- annemother
- ellififty
Remember
A double consonant is held longer, and every vowel is said: anne has two syllables, an-ne, with a clear final e, never the silent “e” of English “gone”.
Practise
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Written marks
Six letters are written with a mark under or over the base letter: ç, ş, ı (a dot less), ö, ü and ğ. Each is a letter of its own. Ğ, which has no sound of its own, is set out in « Silent letters ».
| Spelling | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| ç | /tʃ/ | çay | the “ch” of “chip” (çay); never “k” or “s” |
| ş | /ʃ/ | şeker | the “sh” of “ship” (şeker) |
| ı | /ɯ/ | kız | an “oo” as in “book”, said with the lips spread and not rounded (kız); close to the “o” of “ballot” |
| ö | /œ/ | göz | the lips of “oh”, saying the “e” of “bed” (göz); close to the “ur” of “nurse” said without an r, and to French eu |
| ü | /y/ | üç | the lips of “oo”, saying “ee” (üç); close to French u in tu |
Difference from English
Dotted i and dotless ı are two different letters, and a word changes with the dot: kız (“girl”) has ı, iki (“two”) has i. Their capitals follow the same rule: the capital of i is İ and the capital of ı is I, so that İstanbul is written with a dotted capital and ışık (“light”) with a plain I in IŞIK. English has no sound like ı: it is the “oo” of “book”, but with the lips spread, as if smiling.
- çaytea
- şekersugar
- kızgirl
- gözeye
- üçthree
The circumflex and the apostrophe
Three vowels may carry a circumflex, â, î and û. It is optional and now rare: it marks a long vowel, or a k, g or l said further forward before it, as in kâr (“profit”), which is told apart from kar (“snow”). A name takes an apostrophe before an ending: Ankara'da (“in Ankara”), Ali'nin (“Ali's”). The apostrophe separates the name from its ending, and the ending is not capitalised.
Common mistakes
[kiz]→ [kɯz]The vowel of kız is ı and not i: the lips are spread and the sound is “oo”, never “ee”.[ˈgoz]→ [ˈɟœz]In göz, ö is not “o”: the lips of “oh” say the “e” of “bed”.[ˈutʃ]→ [ˈytʃ]In üç, ü is not “oo”: the lips of “oo” say “ee”.
Practise
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Silent letters
One letter has no sound of its own, ğ (yumuşak ge, “soft g”). It is never said “g”. After a, ı, o or u it only lengthens the vowel before it; after e it is often a light “y”. It is never found at the start of a word.
| Spelling | Sounds | Examples | Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| ğ | silent | dağ öğretmen | no sound of its own: it lengthens the vowel before it (dağ, said daa), and is a light “y” after e (değil); never “g” |
Difference from English
An English speaker reads ğ as “g” because of its shape. In Turkish it is a sign of length: dağ (“mountain”) is said with a long “aa” and ends in no consonant.
- dağmountain
- öğretmenteacher
- değilis not
Common mistakes
[daɡ]→ [daː]In dağ, ğ is not “g”: it makes the a long.[ˈdeɡil]→ [ˈdejil]After e, ğ is a light “y”: değil is said DEH-yeel.
Practise
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In short
| Written | Said | Example |
|---|---|---|
| c | “j” of “jam” | cevap |
| ç | “ch” of “chip” | çay |
| ş | “sh” of “ship” | şeker |
| j | “s” of “pleasure” | plaj |
| ı | “oo” of “book”, lips spread | kız |
| i | “ee” of “see” | iki |
| ö | “e” of “bed”, lips of “oh” | göz |
| ü | “ee”, lips of “oo” | üç |
| r | a quick tap | bir |
| h | always said | sabah |
| ğ | lengthens the vowel before it | dağ |
| nn, ll | held longer | anne, elli |