The modern Azerbaijani alphabet is based on Latin script and has 32 letters. It's almost completely phonetic, which is great news for learners. Once you know the sound each letter makes, you can confidently pronounce most words. You read what you see.

Pay special attention to the letters that don't exist in English: Ç, Ə, Ğ, I (dotless), Ö, Ş, and Ü. Mastering these unique sounds is key to good pronunciation.

The Azerbaijani alphabet hasn't always looked this way. The script has changed several times over the last century, reflecting the region's shifting cultural and political landscape.

For centuries, Azerbaijani was written using a modified Perso-Arabic script. This changed in the 1920s when, as part of a modernization and secularization movement across Turkic-speaking regions, a Latin-based alphabet was adopted.

Then, in the late 1930s, Soviet policy shifted. The Latin alphabet was replaced by a Cyrillic one, similar to the script used for Russian. This was an effort to integrate Azerbaijan more closely with the Soviet Union and distance it from Turkey, which also uses a Latin script.

After Azerbaijan gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the country decided to switch back to a Latin-based script. The version adopted is the one you see today, which is very similar to the alphabet used for Turkish. This change helped re-establish cultural and linguistic ties with Turkey and the wider world.

Ready to test your knowledge of the letters?

Understanding the alphabet is the first and most important step to learning Azerbaijani. With these 32 letters, you now have the key to reading and pronouncing the language.