Intro to the Turkish Alphabet

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Overview: Turkish Letters

The Turkish alphabet has 29 letters, including many that sound familiar to English speakers.  Here’s how each one sounds.

A a

Usually* sounds like the “a” in “calm”
Araba (car)

B b

Sounds like the “b” in “bat”
Baba (father)

C c

Sounds like the “j” in “John”
Can (soul)

Ç ç

Sounds like the “ch” in “chat”
Çok (very / a lot)

D d

Sounds like the “d” in “dad”
Dede (grandpa)

E e

Sounds like the “e” in “net” or the “ay” in “may”
Ekmek (bread)

F f

Sounds like the “f” in “far”
Fil (elephant)

G g

Sounds like the “g” in “go” or the “gy” sound in “argue”
Gaga (beak)

Ğ ğ

Usually* makes a vowel longer
Yağ (oil)

H h

Sounds like the “h” in “he” or “hot”
Horoz (rooster)

I ı

This sound is not in English, but it is close to the “oo” in “wood”
Işık (light)

İ i

Sounds like the “ee” in “meet” or the “i” in “sit”
İlişki (relationship)

J j

Sounds like the “s” in “measure”
Jet (jet)

K k

Sounds like the “k” in “make” or the “ky” sound in “cute”
Kek (cake)

L l

Usually* sounds like the “l” in “lake”
Lavabo (sink)

M m

Sounds like the “m” in “man”
Mama (baby food)

N n

Sounds like the “e” in “net” or the “ay” in “may”
Nene (grandma)

O o

Sounds like the “o” in “cone”
On (ten)

Ö ö

There is no sound like this in English., but it is similar to the German ö.
Ön (front)

P p

Sounds like the “p” in “pop”
Patates (potato)

R r

Usually* sounds like the “t” sound that some English speakers make in “water”
Renk (color)

S s

Sounds like the “s” in “sand”
Sen (you)

Ş ş

Sounds like the “sh” in “she”
Şişe (bottle)

T t

Sounds like the “t” in “ton”
Tat (taste)

U u

Sounds like the “oo” in “boot”
Un (flour)

Ü ü

There is no sound like this in English, but it is close to the “ue” in “cue.”
Ürün (product)

V v

Usually* makes a sound between the “v” and “w” in English
Var (there is/are)

Y y

Sounds like the “y” in “yes”
Yaya (pedestrian)

Z z

Usually* sounds like the “z” in “zoo”
Zor (difficult)
*The Turkish alphabet is phonetic, meaning the letters usually make only one sound each.  But there are a lot of exceptions to this general rule.

Audio recordings courtesy of Forvo.com

This lesson is a prerequisite for:

Vowel harmony

-lar
I-type vowel harmony
E-type vowel harmony
Exceptions

The 1000+ most common words in Turkish

The most common words for language learners
PDF and Excel downloads

Pronouns

ben, sen, o, biz, siz, onlar
bu, şu, o

Comprehensive Pronunciation Guide

Pronunciation guide
Pronunciation exceptions

Adding word endings

Agglutination



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