The Turkish alphabet and pronunciation
The Turkish alphabet uses Latin letters and has 29 letters, including ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş, ü. Almost every letter always has the same sound and nothing is silent, so you can read any word once you know the letters.
| Letter | Sound (English comparison) | Example |
|---|---|---|
| c | like j in jam | cam (glass) |
| ç | like ch in church | çay (tea) |
| ğ | soft g: lengthens the vowel before it | dağ (mountain) |
| ı | dotless i: [ɯ], like the a in about | ılık (lukewarm) |
| ö / ü | e or i said with rounded lips | göz (eye), gün (day) |
| ş | like sh in shoe | şeker (sugar) |
| r | tapped and always pronounced | renk (colour), çarşı (market) |
Key pronunciation rules
- c is never pronounced like k or s, always like the j in jam: *cami* (mosque) sounds like “jah-mee”.
- ı (dotless) and i (dotted) are two different letters. Their capitals are I and İ: *İstanbul*, not *Istanbul*.
- ğ never starts a word; after a, ı, o, u it lengthens the vowel: *dağ* sounds like “daa”.
Examples
- Merhaba, nasılsınız?Hello, how are you? (formal)
- Bir bardak çay lütfen.A glass of tea, please.
- Bu dağ çok yüksek.This mountain is very high.
- İstanbul çok güzel bir şehir.Istanbul is a very beautiful city.
- Bugün hava ılık.The weather is mild today.
Common mistakes
- ✗ Cay lütfen.✓ Çay lütfen.Without the cedilla, c is read like the English j, so cay would sound like “jai”; English keyboards lack ç, which is why it gets lost.
- ✗ Izmir'e gidiyoruz.✓ İzmir'e gidiyoruz.English writes Izmir and Istanbul without a dot, but the Turkish capital of i is İ: İzmir, İstanbul.
- ✗ Dag çok yüksek.✓ Dağ çok yüksek.Without ğ you would say a hard g; dağ sounds like “daa” because ğ only lengthens the vowel.
- ✗ Shehir çok büyük.✓ Şehir çok büyük.English writes the sh sound with two letters; Turkish has a single letter for it: ş, so şehir, not shehir.
- ✗ Jami nerede?✓ Cami nerede?The Turkish c already sounds like the English j; the letter j appears only in a few loanwords, so mosque is cami.