The Turkish pronunciation
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Sign up for freeUnlike in English, Turkish words are pronounced as written. The pronunciation of the Turkish characters in the alphabet is mostly similar to the characters in English. So, pronunciation in Turkish is simpler than in English.
Lesson outline
Hide- 1.Pronunciation of the letters
- 1.1.Double consonants
- 1.1.1.Example table
- 2.Word stress rules
- 2.1.The last syllable
- 2.1.1.Examples
- 2.2.Stress move to the last suffix
- 2.2.1.Example
- 2.3. Unstressed suffixes
- 2.3.1.Examples
- 2.4.The vowel harmony in Turkish
- 2.5.Vowel harmony applied in the plural suffixes
- 3.Exercises
- 3.1.Mark the words exercise on the pronunciation
- 3.2.Multiple choice exercise on the vowel harmony
Pronunciation of the letters
| Word | Pronunciation of the first letter |
|---|---|
| araba (car) | as the a in 'park' |
| bebek (baby) | as the b in 'bank' |
| cep (pocket) | as the j in 'jam' |
| çikolata (chocolate) | as the ch in 'cheap' |
| doğru (true) | as the d in 'dangerous' |
| ekmek (bread) | as the e in 'enjoy' |
| farklı (different) | as the f in 'film' |
| görmek (to see) | as the g in 'got' |
| hece (syllable) | as the h in 'hush' |
| ıslak (wet) | as the ı in 'cousin' |
| ilişki (relationship) | as the i in 'sit' |
| japon (japanese) | as the s in 'measure' |
| köpek (dog) | as the k in 'keep' |
| lamba (lamp) | as the l in 'land' |
| masal (fairytale) | as the m in 'make' |
| neden (reason) | as the n in 'normal' |
| oda (room) | as the o in 'owen' |
| örtü (blanket) | as the i in 'dirty' |
| pilav (rice) | as the p in 'pink' |
| renk (colour) | as the r in 'ride' |
| sevgi (love) | as the s in 'some' |
| şans (chance) | as the sh in 'shoe' |
| top (ball) | as the t in 'task' |
| uçmak (to fly) | as the u in 'put' |
| ümit (hope) | as the ü in 'über' |
| vahşi (wild) | as the w in 'when' |
| yoğurt (yoghurt) | as the y in 'young' |
| zor (difficult) | as the s in 'as' |
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Asya B. 
Gülseren A.
Yunus E.
Gul O.
Enes B.
Evrim K.
OZGE G.
Aysel C.
Aysel T.
Ezgi H.
Double consonants
The pronunciation of double consonants and single ones are different. Double consonants are pronounced with a delayed release and has the effect of a long sound. The pronunciation can change the meaning of a word.
Example table
| Single consonant | Double consonants |
| beli (his/her waist) | belli (obvious) |
| eli (his/her hand) | elli (fifty) |
| atın (your horse) | attın (you threw) |
| yeti (faculty) | yetti (enough) |
Word stress rules
According to the place of the stress, words can change their meaning in the sentence. Placing the stress in the correct position in a word is very important. General rules for stress placement in Turkish words are as follows:
1. The last syllable
In most cases the last syllable is stressed.
Examples
- kısa (short)
- kalabalık (crowded)
- çekingen (shy)
- kadın (woman)
Exception: words that don't have final stress:
- some place names: Özbekistan (Uzbekistan), Londra (London)
- some words which are foreign origin: banka (bank), radyo (radio)
- some adverbs: yarın (tomorrow), hemen (immediately)
2. Stress move to the last suffix
The stress moves to the last suffix, when the words that has the final stress gets a suffix.
Example
- pencere (window)
- pencereler (windows)
- pencerelerde (at the windows)
- pencerem (my window)
- pencerelerimin (of my windows)
3. Unstressed suffixes
When the word ends on one of the unstressed suffixes (-ce, -dir, -me, -madan, -se, -ken...), then the stress takes part before that suffix.
Examples
- Sessizce bekledim. I waited quitely.
- Keki yapmadan gitme. Don't go before making the cake.
- Okuldadır. He must be at school.
- Bugün eve gitmedi. She didn't go home today.
The vowel harmony in Turkish
The Turkish alphabet consists of eight vowels and these are: ''-a, -e, -ı, -i, -o, -ö, -u, -ü'' This letters are divided into two groups:
| Back vowels | -a, -ı, -o, -u |
| Front vowels | -e, -i, -ö, -ü |
When the word's first syllable includes one of the back/front vowels, the folowing syllables should continue with the back/front vowel too.
Examples with back vowels: yatak (bed), kapı (door), dudak (lip), burun (nose)
Examples with front vowels: çiçek (flower), böcek (bug), üzgün (sad), yemek (food)
There are however exceptions:
- anne (mother)
- tiyatro (theatre)
- badem (almond)
- kahve (coffee)
- hangi (which)
- ...
Vowel harmony applied in the plural suffixes
There are two plural suffixes in Turkish: -ler, -lar. When the last vowel of the noun is one of the following vowels ( -a ,- ı, -o, -u ), the '-lar' suffix is used and when the last vowel of the noun is one of the vowels (-e,- i, -ö, -ü ) the '-ler' suffix is used.
| Use (-ler/-lar) | the last vowel |
| '-lar' | -a, -ı, -o, -u |
| '-ler' | -e, -i, -ö, -ü |
Examples with the '-lar' suffix
- oyuncaklar (toys)
- çocuklar (children)
- hayvanlar (animals)
Examples with the '-ler' suffix
- çiçekler (flowers)
- bitkiler (plants)
- belgeler (documents)