If you are starting Turkish, the best first step is the Turkish alphabet with pronunciation. The good news: it is one of the easiest parts of the language. Turkish has used a Latin-based alphabet since 1928, and its spelling is almost perfectly phonetic. Each letter stands for one sound, and words are pronounced the way they are written.
That means once you know 29 letters, you can read any Turkish word aloud, even one you have never seen before. This guide walks you through every letter, the special letters English speakers need to learn, a few letters that look familiar but sound different, and practical tips for reading your first sentences. Press the play buttons to hear each example.
All 29 letters of the Turkish alphabet
The Turkish alphabet has 29 letters: 8 vowels and 21 consonants. Compared with English, it drops q, w and x and adds ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş and ü. The table below gives a rough English equivalent for each sound. These comparisons are approximate, so use the audio examples in this guide as your real reference.
| Letter | Sounds like | Example | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|
| A a | a in “father”, but shorter | araba | car |
| B b | b in “bed” | balık | fish |
| C c | j in “jam” | cami | mosque |
| Ç ç | ch in “chair” | çay | tea |
| D d | d in “dog” | deniz | sea |
| E e | e in “bed” | ev | house |
| F f | f in “fun” | fincan | cup |
| G g | g in “go” | gece | night |
| Ğ ğ | silent; lengthens the vowel before it | dağ | mountain |
| H h | h in “hat” | hava | air, weather |
| I ı | a in “about” (a short, relaxed “uh”) | ışık | light |
| İ i | ee in “see”, but shorter | iyi | good |
| J j | s in “measure” | plaj | beach |
| K k | k in “kite” | kedi | cat |
| L l | l in “love” | limon | lemon |
| M m | m in “moon” | masa | table |
| N n | n in “no” | ne | what |
| O o | o in “more”, but shorter | okul | school |
| Ö ö | e in “bed” with rounded lips | göz | eye |
| P p | p in “pen” | para | money |
| R r | a light, tapped r | resim | picture |
| S s | s in “sun” | su | water |
| Ş ş | sh in “ship” | şeker | sugar |
| T t | t in “top” | tuz | salt |
| U u | oo in “food”, but shorter | uçak | plane |
| Ü ü | ee in “see” with rounded lips | üzüm | grapes |
| V v | v in “van”, often softer | var | there is |
| Y y | y in “yes” | yol | road |
| Z z | z in “zoo” | zaman | time |
The special letters: ç, ğ, ı, İ, ö, ş and ü
Six letters in the Turkish alphabet do not exist in English, and a seventh, the dotted capital İ, looks unusual to English readers. The little hook under ç and ş, the curved mark on ğ and the dots on ö and ü are not decorations: each one marks a different letter with its own sound.
Ç and Ş are the easiest. Ç is the “ch” in “chair” and Ş is the “sh” in “ship”.
çay
tea
çok
very, a lot
şehir
city
teşekkürler
thanks
Ğ is called yumuşak ge (“soft g”). It never starts a word and is not pronounced like a normal g. After a, ı, o or u, it simply makes the vowel before it longer, so dağ sounds like “daa”. Between front vowels such as e and i, it often sounds like a light y, so değil sounds close to “deh-yil”.
dağ
mountain
yağmur
rain
değil
not
öğretmen
teacher
I ı and İ i are two separate letters, and the dot matters. İ i sounds like the “ee” in “see”. I ı (without a dot) has no exact English equivalent: relax your mouth and say a short “uh” with your lips spread, a bit like the a in “about”. Each letter keeps its dot status in capitals: lowercase i becomes İ, and lowercase ı becomes I. That is why the city is written İstanbul in Turkish.
kır
countryside
kir
dirt
kırmızı
red
İstanbul
Istanbul
Ö and Ü are rounded vowels, just like in German. For ö, say the e in “bed” and round your lips. For ü, say “ee” and round your lips as if you were about to whistle.
göz
eye
dört
four
üç
three
gül
rose
Günaydın!
Good morning!
The marks really change meaning. olmak means “to be” or “to become”, but ölmek means “to die”. sık means “frequent”, while şık means “stylish”. If you plan to type in Turkish, add a Turkish keyboard layout to your phone or computer.
Why C sounds like J, and other letters that surprise English speakers
The letter that trips up almost every beginner is C. In Turkish, c always sounds like the English j in “jam”, never like k or s. So cami (mosque) is pronounced “jah-mee”, and Cuma (Friday) is “joo-mah”.
cami
mosque
Cuma
Friday
cevap
answer
ceket
jacket
A few other letters are worth a second look:
J is rare and appears mostly in words borrowed from French. It sounds like the s in “measure”, as in plaj (beach) and garaj (garage).
R is a light tap of the tongue, similar to the quick sound in the middle of American “butter”. At the end of a word it often becomes soft and breathy, as in bir (one) and var (there is).
H is always pronounced, even in the middle of a word: kahve (coffee) is “kah-veh”. V can sound softer than in English, closer to a w, especially between vowels, as in tavuk (chicken).
plaj
beach
bir
one
kahve
coffee
tavuk
chicken
A quick preview of vowel harmony
Once you can read the letters, you will notice a pattern: endings change their vowels to match the word they attach to. This is called vowel harmony, and it is the reason Turkish vowels fall into such neat groups.
| Unrounded | Rounded | |
|---|---|---|
| Front vowels | e, i | ö, ü |
| Back vowels | a, ı | o, u |
The simplest example is the plural ending. If the last vowel of a word is a front vowel (e, i, ö, ü), it takes -ler. If the last vowel is a back vowel (a, ı, o, u), it takes -lar.
evler
houses
gözler
eyes
kitaplar
books
okullar
schools
Some endings have four forms instead of two. The question particle mi becomes mi, mı, mu or mü, depending on the last vowel of the word before it:
Bu kahve mi?
Is this coffee?
Bu çay mı?
Is this tea?
Bu okul mu?
Is this a school?
Bu süt mü?
Is this milk?
You do not need to master vowel harmony on day one. For now, learn to hear the difference between front and back vowels. The rules will feel natural when you meet them in grammar lessons, and our guide to Turkish vowel harmony walks through both of them step by step.
Tips for reading Turkish aloud
1. Pronounce every letter. Turkish has no silent letters except ğ, which lengthens the vowel before it. Double consonants are held a little longer: anne (mother) is “an-neh”, with a clear double n.
2. Read syllable by syllable. Long words look scary, but they break into short, regular syllables. Teşekkür ederim becomes te-şek-kür e-de-rim.
Teşekkür ederim.
Thank you.
Hoş geldiniz!
Welcome!
Memnun oldum.
Nice to meet you.
Görüşürüz!
See you!
3. Put light stress on the last syllable. In most Turkish words, the stress falls on the final syllable: ki-TAP (book), ar-ka-DAŞ (friend). Place names and some common words are exceptions, such as Ankara (AN-ka-ra) and İstanbul (is-TAN-bul). Turkish stress is gentle, so do not worry about it too much at first.
4. Read real Turkish every day. Street signs, menus, product labels and song titles are all reading practice. Say a word aloud, then check yourself with audio.
5. Try dictation. Because spelling is so regular, you can usually write down a word correctly just from hearing it. Listening and writing together trains your ear quickly.
Practice the Turkish alphabet with Mitsling
Reading about the alphabet is a start, but your ear and mouth need practice too. The first unit of Mitsling’s A1 course, Merhaba!, is free and covers the sounds of Turkish alongside greetings and introductions, with audio for every word and interactive exercises.
If you would like someone to listen to your pronunciation and correct it, you can book 1-on-1 live lessons with Kerem, a native Turkish teacher, for $12 per 50-minute lesson, in monthly plans of 4, 8, 12 or 16 lessons.