Learning Turkish isn’t hard, as opposed to what people say as long as you crack the code. Turkish is more of a mathematical language I would say, and in order to master it, you will first have to understand how the system works. Turkish follows an agglutinative structure, as found in some other languages too, like Korean and Japanese. This means, in simple terms, that suffixes are attached to a word to make a sentence.
Turkish shares a lot of vocabulary with Arabic, Persian, French, Italian and English. Being an Urdu speaker, I have also found a number of similarities in Turkish. However, let this not distract you from the fact that the grammar structure is completely different and may take you quite some time to become conversational in it.
Before going deep into the grammar, let me give you a brief introduction to the Turkish language, including the origin of the modern day written form.
History of the present-day Turkish Language
Modern Turkish uses a Latin-based alphabet introduced in 1928 by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk. Before that, Ottoman Turkish used the Arabic script. The reform in the language was done mainly to make reading easier and to increase literacy in the region. Before the Ottoman Empire, the old Turkic script was used.
A fun fact about learning Turkish is that you will be able to understand many other Turkic languages too. There are over 35 languages in this family, including Uyghurche, which has guided courses available on this website!
Alphabets of the Turkish Language
Turkish has 29 letters.
A B C Ç D E F G Ğ H I İ J K L M N O Ö P R S Ş T U Ü V Y Z
There are:
- 8 Vowels (Sesli Harfler)
- 21 Consonants (Ünsüz Harfler)
Sesli Harfler (Vowels)
Turkish has 8 vowels, which are subdivided into hard and soft ones.
Hard / Back (Kalın) Vowels:
- a
- ı
- o
- u
Your tongue stays toward the back of your mouth.
Examples:
- araba (car)
- kapı (door)
- okul (school)
Soft / Front (İnce) Vowels:
- e
- i
- ö
- ü
Your tongue moves forward.
Examples:
- ev (house)
- kitap (book)
- gül (rose)
These vowels can also be classified into rounded and unrounded ones:
Rounded vs Unrounded Vowels:
Rounded (Yuvarlak):
o, u, ö, ü
(Lips rounded)
Unrounded (Düz):
a, ı, e, i
(Lips relaxed)
This becomes important later for possessive endings and verb endings. For now, just recognize the pattern.
Confusing elements in Turkish alphabets:
The Two “I” Letters (Students Always Confused Here)
Turkish has:
- I (dotless ı)
- İ (dotted i)
They are DIFFERENT letters.
ı (dotless i)
Sound: deep, neutral vowel
Like the second “a” in “sofa”
Example:
- kapı (door)
- ışık (light)
i (dotted i)
Sound: “ee” like in “see”
Example:
- isim (name)
- bilgi (information)
Capital rule:
- i → İ
- ı → I
Very important when typing.
Ünsüz Harfler (Consonants)
The rest of the alphabets are consonants. However, there are some special consonants in the Turkish language, which are important to understand.
Ç ç
Like “ch” in chair
Example: çay (tea)
Ş ş
Like “sh” in she
Example: şeker (sugar)
C c
Like “j” in jam
Example: cam (glass)
Ğ ğ (Soft G – Yumuşak G)
This one is special.
It does NOT make a strong sound.
Instead, it:
- Lengthens the vowel before it
- Or creates a smooth glide
Examples:
- dağ (mountain)
- yağ (oil)
You don’t say “dag.”
You stretch the vowel: daaa. Think of it as a vowel extender.
Consonant Softening in Turkish
In Turkish, some hard consonants change when a vowel comes after them.
p → b
ç → c
t → d
k → ğ / g
Example:
- kitap (book)
- kitabı (the book)
The “p” becomes “b”.
We will study this properly later, but notice the pattern.
Syllable Structure in Turkish
Turkish words are usually built in syllables like:
Consonant + Vowel
Examples:
- a-ra-ba
- is-tan-bul
- Tür-ki-ye
Speaking rhythm matters. Also, it is important to note that in Turkish pronunciation, stress falls on the last syllable. For Example: kitaP, okulDA, arabaLAR. But there are some exceptions to this, like Istanbul, where the stress is on the first syllable.
