The Turkish language · Chapter 1
Letters and sounds
How Turkish is written and said: its 29 letters, the eight vowels, the letters English doesn't have, and where the stress falls.
1.1 The alphabet
Turkish is written in the Latin alphabet, the one English uses, with a few letters of its own. It has 29 letters, and has been written this way since 1928, when the Latin alphabet replaced the Arabic script.
Its spelling is regular. Each letter stands for one sound, and each sound is written with one letter, so once you know the letters you can read any word aloud, and write down any word you hear.
a b c ç d e f g ğ h ı i j k l m n o ö p r s ş t u ü v y z
There is no q, w or x: they turn up only in foreign names. The letters that look new are ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş and ü, and two that look familiar, c and j, stand for different sounds than in English.
1.2 The vowels
Turkish has eight vowels. They are short and clear, and keep their sound whether a syllable is stressed or not, where English would blur them.
| Letter | Said | A word |
|---|---|---|
| a | like the a in father, but short | at, horse |
| e | like the e in bed | el, hand |
| ı | not in English: say ee, then pull your tongue back without rounding your lips | kız, girl |
| i | like the i in machine, but short | iki, two |
| o | like the o in more, short | on, ten |
| ö | as in German schön: say e with rounded lips | göz, eye |
| u | like the oo in food, but short | su, water |
| ü | as in German über or French tu: say ee with rounded lips | üç, three |
Two vowels side by side are both said, each in its own syllable: saat, "hour", is sa-at.
1.3 The consonants
Most consonants sound as they do in English. These are the ones that don't:
| Letter | Said | Words |
|---|---|---|
| c | like the j in jam | cam, glass; ceket, jacket |
| ç | like the ch in church | çay, tea; üç, three |
| ş | like the sh in ship | şeker, sugar; iş, work |
| j | like the s in measure, in a few borrowed words | garaj, garage |
| g | always hard, as in go | gel, come |
| ğ | "soft g": no sound of its own (below) | dağ, mountain; değil, not |
| h | always said, even at the end of a word | kahve, coffee; sabah, morning |
| r | a light tap of the tongue, as in Spanish; at the end of a word, often with a little breath after it | bir, one; var, there is |
| v | softer than in English, the lips almost meeting | ev, house; evet, yes |
| y | always a consonant, as in yes | yok, there isn't; ay, moon |
ğ never begins a word. After a, ı, o or u it makes the vowel before it longer: dağ, "mountain", sounds like "daa", and soğuk, "cold", like "so-uk". Between e, i, ö or ü it sounds like a light y: değil, "not", is close to "deyil".
A doubled consonant is held a little longer: anne, "mother", and elli, "fifty".
1.4 Where the stress falls
Turkish stress is light, and most words take it on their last syllable: kitap, "book". Endings carry it along as they are added: kitaplar, "books", kitaplarım, "my books".
A few endings never take the stress, and leave it on the syllable before them. The question word mi is one, so ev mi?, "a house?", and so is -me, "not", on a verb: gelme, "don't come".
Many place names and borrowed words have their stress earlier: Ankara, İstanbul, lokanta, "restaurant". So do most question words: nasıl, "how", nerede, "where".
Turkish writing doesn't mark the stress. This chapter shows it in bold; the rest of the book doesn't.
1.5 How the examples are shown
Turkish builds its words by adding endings, one after another, and much of this book is about those endings. So its examples often come with two lines under the Turkish: the first splits each word into its pieces, and the second says what each piece does.
Evlerimizden geldik.
Pieces that say what they are in English are written in English: our, from, we. Those English has no word for are written in capitals, each one explained where it first appears: PL is the plural, PAST the past. It is the way linguists write examples: every piece of the first line has its gloss under it.
1.6 Words to read aloud
With the letters, these can be read straight off the page.
| Turkish | English |
|---|---|
| merhaba | hello |
| günaydın | good morning |
| teşekkür ederim | thank you |
| lütfen | please |
| evet | yes |
| hayır | no |
| hoşça kal | goodbye, said by the one leaving |
| güle güle | goodbye, said by the one staying |