Language/Turkish/Grammar/Pronunciation

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Turkish Grammar → Turkish Alphabet → Pronunciation

As a Turkish language teacher with 20 years of experience, I believe that learning the Turkish Alphabet and its Pronunciation is very essential for beginner students. In this lesson, we will go through the Turkish language's pronunciation rules and guidelines, its different sounds and accents, and how to properly use the Turkish Alphabet.

After mastering this lesson, these related pages might interest you: Adjectives & Possessive Case in Turkish.

Turkish Alphabet

The Turkish Alphabet consists of 29 letters, with 8 vowels and 21 consonants. One aspect of the Turkish Alphabet that makes it unique is that it is a phonetic language in which each letter has a distinct sound. This means that once you learn to read a letter, you can read all Turkish words that include that letter accurately.

The Turkish language uses Latin script, which allows for easy reading and writing. In this lesson, we will only focus on the Turkish sounds and pronunciation without delving into the alphabets' writing forms. Let's take a look at the vowels and consonants.

Vowels and Consonants

Vowels in Turkish are pronounced with a clear sound, and each vowel has its distinct sound. These vowels are:

• A (ah)
• E (eh)
• I (ee)
• İ (ih)
• O (oh)
• Ö (ew)
• U (oo)
• Ü (ew)

Consonants, on the other hand, come in different sounds and pronunciations. Let's take a look at the consonants and their pronunciation:

• B (beh)
• C (jeh)
• Ç (cheh)
• D (deh)
• F (feh)
• G (geh)
• Ğ (soft 'g' / yuhmush letter)
• H (heh)
• J (jot)
• K (keh)
• L (leh)
• M (meh)
• N (neh)
• P (peh)
• R (reh)
• S (seh)
• Ş (sheh)
• T (teh)
• V (veh)
• Y (yeh)
• Z (zeh)

Ğ in Turkish is known as the soft 'g' sound and is a silent letter. It merely elongates or lengthens the vowel preceding it. In learning to pronounce Turkish words correctly, the 'ğ' should be treated as if non-existent.

Pronunciation

Now that we have looked at the Turkish Alphabet, let's delve into learning about the Turkish pronunciation rules.

In Turkish, we have three types of accent: Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary. The stress in the Turkish language most often falls on the last syllable of a word. The stress pattern remains the same, even when there is an addition of a suffix to the word.

Other notable rules in Turkish pronunciation include:

• Double consonants are pronounced with a stress or slight pause in between but treated as a single unit.
• Airflow for non-aspirated consonants is relaxed compared to aspirated consonants.
• In Turkish, words are spoken exactly the way they are written, so it's essential to understand and learn the sounds of the letters to properly pronounce words.

In Turkish, the letter "E" can be pronounced differently, depending on whether it comes at the beginning, end or middle of a word. "E" at the beginning of a word is pronounced like "eh"; at the end, it is pronounced like "a," and in the middle, it's pronounced as a schwa sound (the unstressed, neutral vowel sound in English akin to a soft "uh" sound).

Another notable aspect of Turkish pronunciation is the use of vowel harmony. Vowel harmony is a grammatical principle in Turkish where the vowels in a word are chosen to match the type of vowel in the root word or stem. In simple terms, it means that you cannot use a mix of front and back vowels within a single word. For instance, if the root word contains a front vowel, all other suffixes should be front vowels as well.

See the table below for a sample of some vowels and their respective vowel harmony

Turkish	Pronunciation	English
Evler (houses)	EHV-lehr	Houses
Havalimanı (airport)	hah-vah-lee-mah-nuh	Airport
İçimde (inside me)	ee-chihm-deh	Inside me
Yaptıklarımız (What we have done)	Yahp-tih-klah-ruh-muhz	What we have done

Remember to practice the vowel harmony rules to help with the proper pronunciation of Turkish words.

Learning Turkish pronunciation takes time and practice. Don't be discouraged if you don't get it right on your first attempt. Listen to native speakers and practice as much as you can.

Conclusion

In this lesson, we have examined the Turkish Alphabet and its pronunciation, the vowels and consonants, how stress works in the Turkish language, and different rules necessary for accurate pronunciation. By learning these pronunciation rules and guideline, you will be better equipped with a foundation to read, write and speak Turkish words accurately.

Sources

• Turkish Language Pronunciation Guide
• Turkish Pronunciation - Learn how to pronounce Turkish ...
• The Complete Guide To Turkish Pronunciation – StoryLearning

Finished this lesson? Check out these related lessons: Quantity in Turkish & Questions.

Table of Contents - Turkish Course - 0 to A1

• Course Presentation

  ---

Turkish Alphabet

• Vowels and Consonants
• Pronunciation

  ---

Basic Grammar

• Nouns
• Verbs
• Adjectives
• Pronouns

  ---

Complex Grammar

• Cases
• Participles
• Conditional Sentences

  ---

Everyday Phrases

• Greeting
• Asking for Directions
• Food and Drink
• Shopping

  ---

Numbers and Time

• Cardinal Numbers
• Ordinal Numbers
• Time

  ---

Turkish Culture

• History and Geography
• Traditions and Customs
• Cuisine
• Arts and Festivals

  ---

Daily Life

• Housing
• Family and Relationships
• Religion
• Transportation and Travel

Other Lessons

• Greetings in Turkish
• Possessive Case in Turkish
• How to use ¨can¨ in Turkish
• SIFATLARDA KÜÇÜLTME
• Cardinal Numbers in Turkish
• The Locative Case in Turkish
• Participles
• Definite Articles in Turkish
• Ordinal Numbers in Turkish
• The Ablative Case in Turkish

◀️ Vowels and Consonants — Previous Lesson

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