THE TURKISH ALPHABET

THE TURKISH ALPHABET

Since 1928, Turkish has been written in a slightly modified Latin alphabet which is very nearly phonetic.
The Turkish alphabet has 8 vowels (a, e, ı, i, o, ö, u, ü) and 21 consonants. The letters Q, W and X do not exist in Turkish.
Most letters are pronounced pretty much as you would expect, but some are not. Once the phonetic value of all letters is known, then it is rather easy to pronounce any word one sees or to spell any word one hears. This means once you know how to pronounce the letters in the alphabet you can start reading perfectly right away!
Remember that while reciting the alphabet, a Turkish “E” is attached to all consonant sounds. Some of the following letters require explanation which has been provided, others are similar to English pronunciation:
Aa "a" as in "cut" or "son", never as "a" in"cat" or "back" kan = blood
Bb
Cc "J" as in "judge" can= life, soul, pronounced like "John")
Çç "ch" as in "church" çay= tea, pronounced "chay", rhymes with "buy")
Dd
Ee "e" as in "bed" ekmek =bread
Ff
Gg "g" as in "get" gelin =bride
Ğğ ‘yumuşak ge’ [soft g] Never appears as the first letter in a word; essentially silent; sometimes lengthens preceding vowel; sometimes pronounced like "y" in "yet" dağ =mountain, pronounced daa , rhymes with the "baa" of "baa baa black sheep";
diğer =other, pronounced diyer
Hh
Iı undotted "i": "e" as in "the", "u" as in "radium" or "i" as in "cousin" ışık =ligth, ırmak = river
İi dotted "i":"i" as in "sit" or how you pronounce ‘E’ when you are reading the English Alphabet bir = one, pronounced like "beer" without the `flap american r` at the end but a turkish r with less curl back of the tongue.
Jj "j" as in "measure" garaj = garage, pronounced as in French & English
Kk
Ll
Mm
Nn
Oo "o" as in "fold"(remember..without the w sound at the end) okul =school
Öö “i” as in “bird” (with British pronunciation) German "ö" as in "König" or French "eu" as in "peur" göl = lake, rhymes with “furl” as in to furl a flag)
Pp
Rr
Ss "s" as in "sing", never pronounced like a "z" as the "s" in "his" ses = voice
Şş "sh"as in "ship" şey = thing, pronounced "shey" , rhymes with "hay")
Tt
Uu "oo" as in "boot" buz = ice, pronounced like "booze" but with a shorter vowel sound
Üü German "ü" as in "für" or French "u" as in "tu" gül = rose
Vv
Yy
Zz "z" as in "zoo" beyaz = white

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ADVICE:

Try regularly to read the letters one by one and work on your pronunciation. Remember that the consonants are read aloud in isolation by the addition of an ‘e’ sound in Turkish and that vowels are pronounced as single letters (just vowels) and not pronounced by a ‘w’ sound or any other consonant sound at the end.

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