The Turkish Alphabet

A - /ɑ/ – (father)

B - /b/ – (bad)

C - /d͡ʒ/ – (juvenile)

Ç - /t͡ʃ/ – (chalk)

D - /d/ – (dad)

E - /e/ – (red)

F - /f/ – (far)

G - /g/ - (girl)

Ğ - /ː/

H - /h/ - (hat)

I - /ɯ/ - (vessel)

İ - /i/ – (miss)

J - /ʒ/ – (measure)

K - /k/ – (case); /q/ – (cold)

L - /ɫ/ – (low); /l/ – (leak)

M - /m/ – (moose)

N - /n/ – (nap)

O - /o/ – (core)

Ö - /œ/

P - /p/ – (pear)

R - /ɾ/ – (better)

S - /s/ – (salt)

Ş - /ʃ/ – (shower)

T - /t/ – (tom)

U - /u/ – (nucleus)

Ü - /y/ –

V - /v/ – (vase)

Y - /j/ – (yes)

Z - /z/ – (zebra)

Vowel Harmony

There are essentially two types of vowels in Turkish: Front vowels: e, i, ö, ü; and Back Vowels: a, ı, o, u. Native Turkish words typically contain vowels from one or the other, but rarely both. Foreign words, however, need not harmonize.

Turkish is an agglutinative language, so much of its grammar is constructed by means of adding suffixes to nouns and verbs. These suffixes typically have one or two syllables, and their vowels change depending on the last vowel in the stem. When adding multiple suffixes, each new suffix must match the vowel of the suffix before it.

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Ben ― "I/ Me"

Sen ― "You"

O ― "He/ She/ It"

Biz ― "We/ Us"

Siz ― "You" (plural)

Onlar ― "They/ Those"

Demonstrative Pronouns

Bu ― "This"

Şu ― "This/ That"

O ― "He/ She/ It"

Bunlar ― "These"

Şunlar ― "These/ Those"

Onlar ― "They/ Those"

Interrogatives

Particle mⓋ

In order to form the Interrogative Particle mⓋ, you must harmonize its vowel with the final vowel of the preceding word. Thus, words that end with a or ı are followed by the form mı; words that end in o or u are ollowed by the form mu; words that end in e or i are ollowed by the form mi; and words that end in ö or ü are ollowed by the form mü.

Examples

Bu mu? – “is it this?”

O mu? – “is it that/her/him?”

Onlar mı? – “is it them?”

Tanır mı? – “is it Tanir?”

Dişi mi? – “is it female?”

Erkek mi? – “Is it male?”

Bugün mü? – “Is it today?”

Öç mü? – “Is it revenge?”

Interrogative Pronouns

Kim “who”

Ne “what”

Neden “why”

Niye “why”

Niçin “why”

Nasıl “how”

Nereye “where to”

Nerede “where”

Nereden “where from”

Nereli “originating from”

Positive Declarative Verb Conjugations

Where Ⓒ is for Consonants, and Ⓥ is for Verbs:

Infinitives take the form ―mⓋk with the verbs a or e

• Example: almak = "to take, receive"

• Example: gelmek = "to come"

Imperfective Impersonal take the form ―Ⓥn with the verbs a or e

• Example: alan = "taker/ receiver"

• Example: gelen = "incoming/ coming"

Perfective Impersonal take the form ―Ⓥş with the verbs ı or i

• Example: almış = "have taken/ received"

• Example: gelmiş = "came"

Prospective Impersonal take the form ―ⓋcⓋk with the verbs ı or i

• Example: alacak = "will take/ receive"

• Example: gelecek = "will come" also "future"

Verbal Noun take the form ―mⓋ with the verbs a or e

• Example: alma = "taking/ receiving"

• Example: gelme = "coming"

Way of Doing take the form ―Ⓥş with the verbs ı or i

• Example: alış = "buying"

• Example: geliş = "arrival"