Introduction to Turkish Language
Turkish Alphabet
The Turkish Alphabet
The Turkish alphabet is your first step into the language, and it's a friendly one. In 1928, Turkey adopted a modified Latin alphabet, which means most of the letters will look familiar. It’s also almost completely phonetic, so words are pronounced exactly as they are spelled. Once you learn the sound for each letter, you can read Turkish.
The Turkish Alphabet is a Latin-based writing system that consists of 29 letters.
There are 29 letters in total: 8 vowels and 21 consonants. Many sound just like their English counterparts, but a few have unique pronunciations. Let's take a look at the full alphabet.
| Letter | Pronunciation Guide (like the underlined letter) |
|---|---|
| A a | father |
| B b | bed |
| C c | jam |
| Ç ç | church |
| D d | dog |
| E e | bed |
| F f | fun |
| G g | go |
| Ğ ğ | (soft g, lengthens previous vowel) |
| H h | hat |
| I ı | cousin |
| İ i | see |
| J j | measure |
| K k | key |
| L l | leg |
| M m | man |
| N n | no |
| O o | pot |
| Ö ö | burn |
| P p | pen |
| R r | (rolled r, like in Spanish) |
| S s | sun |
| Ş ş | shoe |
| T t | top |
| U u | put |
| Ü ü | few |
| V v | vest |
| Y y | yes |
| Z z | zoo |
Letters to Watch Out For
Six letters in the Turkish alphabet don't exist in English: Ç, Ğ, I, Ö, Ş, and Ü. There's also one familiar letter, C, that has a very different sound. Let's break them down.
C is pronounced like the 'j' in 'jam'. A common word is cam (j-ahm), which means glass.
Ç has a tail, called a cedilla, and it sounds like 'ch' in 'church'. Think of the word çay (ch-eye), which means tea.
Ş also has a cedilla, and it makes the 'sh' sound in 'shoe'. A good example is şapka (shahp-kah), meaning hat.
The letter Ğ, called yumuşak ge (soft g), is a unique one. It's almost always silent and simply lengthens the vowel that comes before it. For example, in the word dağ (mountain), you don't pronounce the ğ; you just hold the 'a' sound a little longer, like 'daa'.
The Vowels I and İ
Turkish has two versions of the letter 'i', one with a dot and one without. This is a crucial distinction.
İ/i (dotted) is pronounced like the 'ee' in 'see'. I/ı (undotted) has no English equivalent. It's a short, back-of-the-throat sound, similar to the 'u' in 'stadium' or the final 'a' in 'sofa'.
The difference is important. Irak (uh-RAHK) means 'far', while İrak (ee-RAHK) is the country Iraq. Paying attention to the dots matters!
The Vowels Ö and Ü
The last two special vowels are Ö and Ü. These have dots on top, called an umlaut, which changes their sound.
To make the Ö sound, form your lips like you're about to say 'o', but say the 'ur' sound from 'burn' instead. It’s the sound in göz (eye).
To make the Ü sound, shape your lips for an 'oo' sound, but say 'ee' instead. It's like the 'ew' in 'few'. This is the sound in ütü (iron).
Now that you've seen all the letters, let's practice putting them together.
Ready to test your knowledge? Try this short quiz.
How is the Turkish letter 'Ç' pronounced?
What is the primary role of the letter 'Ğ' (yumuşak ge) in a Turkish word?
Learning the alphabet is the first and most important step. With these sounds down, you have a solid foundation for speaking and reading Turkish.