Turkish script is almost like a phonetic transcription, so you will not have difficulty in reading and writing after you have learned what sound each letter in the alphabet stands for and how the letters combine to form syllables.

2. Copyright © 2020 Halit Demir
The content of this video and those of the following ones
were mainly extracted from the
self-study reference and practice book for Turkish
learners,
easy Turkish Grammar with answers.
For the audio visit
https://youtu.be/tZb2_2WN-mM
u

3. Visit www.easyturkishgrammar.com to view more. v

4. In Turkish alphabet, there are 29 letters:
21 consonants and 8 vowels.
Turkish script is almost like a phonetic transcription.
Each letter:
is pronounced. Included in this category are double
consonants, where a syllable ends and the next syllable
starts with the same letter.
For example, the n’s in anne ‘mother’ are both pronounced
as they do in unnatural.
The only exception to this rule is ğ.

5. keeps its sound unchanged unlike,
for example, English c in city and class, or
u in put and but.
Now
let’s learn
what sound each letter in the alphabet stands for.
The vowels are highlighted in bold.

6. Aa a•be•ce (ABCs)
• Shows syllable divisions.
In the next video (#2)
we will study
howıthe.letters.combine.to.form syllables.

7. Bb ba•ba (father)
The consonants are sounded with the /e/ sound:
/be/, /ce/, /çe/, /de/ etc.

8. Cc ba•ca (chimney)
By the way, you are repeating after me,
aren’t you?
Listen again and repeat.

9. Çç ça•ba (effort)
Notice.that
the example words (almost always)
contain only the sounds you have already learned.

10. Dd a•da (island)

11. Ee de•de (grandfather)

12. Ff fa (fa in sol-fa)

13. Gg ge•ce (night)

14. Ğğ dağ (mountain)
We will deal with this consonant
in detail.

15. Hh he•def (target [n])

16. Iı ı•lı (get tepid)
• /ı/ is an unrounded /u/.You can produce the /ı/ sound by
unrounding your lips as you continue saying /u/.
It is similar to the schwa sound in the second syllable of
butcher or carrot.
Compare:
ulu ‘Almighty’
ılı ‘get tepid’
Do not dot lovercase ı’s.

17. Ġi gi•bi (like [prep])

18. Jj ba•gaj (boot/trunk)

19. Kk ke•di (cat)

20. Ll leh•çe (dialect)

21. Mm ma•ma (baby food)

22. Nn ni•ne (grandmother)

23. Oo mor (purple)
• The /o/ sound is more like the /o/ in boy or joy
without the final /ı/ sound. Or we can say it is the /o/ in
more or small, but only shorter.
Compare:
more
mor ‘purple’
The English audio was extracted from the online
Webster’s Dictionary.

24. Öö öl (die [v])
• /ö/ is a rounded /e/. You can produce the /ö/ sound
by rounding your lips as you continue saying /e/.
Compare:
el ‘hand (n)’
öl ‘die (v)’

25. Pp pan•ter (panther)

26. Rr re•sim (picture [n])

27. Ss ses (sound, voice)

28. ġĢ ĢiĢ ke•bap (shish kebab)

29. Tt tat (taste [n])

30. Uu u•lu (Almighty)

31. Üü üç (three)
• /ü/ is a rounded /i/. You can produce the /ü/ sound by
rounding your lips as you continue saying /i/.
Compare:
iç ‘drink (v)’
üç ‘three’

32. Vv va•kit (time)

33. Yy ya•ya (pedestrian)

34. Zz zel•ze•le (earthquake)

35. Consonant ğ
The consonant ğ (yumuĢak ‘soft’ ge) has no
pronunciation.itself.
It behaves differently depending on the
environment it appears.
It may appear in five different environments.
Let’s study each of them separately.

36. When ğ appears:
i. at the end of a syllable, it lengthens.the.preceding
vowel:
dağ /da:/ mountain
öğ-renci /ö:renci/ student
uğ-ra /u:ra/ stop by
bağ-la /ba:la/ tie (v)
düğ-me /dü:me/ button (n)
doğ-ru /do:ru/ true, correct

37. ii. between a and ı (ağı), it lengthens a; ı is not pronounced:
ağız /a:z/ mouth
ağır /a:r/ heavy
bağır /ba:r/ shout (v)
aĢağı /aĢa:/ down (to/in a lower place)
However,
you may hear many native speakers pronouncing those ı’s
as /aız/, /aır/ etc.
It does not change the meaning.

38. iii. between two e’s (eğe), or between e and i (eği) and
vice versa (iğe), it is pronounced.as y:
eğer /eyer/ if
değer /deyer/ value (n)
diğer /diyer/ other
değil /deyil/, or /diil/ not

39. iv. between the vowels other than those
in environments #ii and iii, it remains silent:
ağustos /austos/ August
göğüs /göüs/ chest, breast
soğan /soan/ onion
yoğurt /yourt/ yogurt
While listening, notice that each vowel has its own
sound. There are no diphthongs in Turkish.
However,

40. v. if the vowels are identical, they are pronounced as
one vowel, lengthening the sound:
ağaç /a:ç/ tree
kuğu /ku:/ swan (n)
düğün /dü:n/ wedding
Yiğit /yi:t/ (masc. first name)
Note.that no words in Turkish begin with ğ.

41. Endnote
As we have mentioned at the very beginning, Turkish script
is almost like a phonetic transcription.
Still, you may experience difficulty with pronunciation
if, especially, you are studying Turkish for the first time and
on your own.
But

42. as your ear is getting used to the sound of Turkish (Listening
and reading aloud practice would be a great help.), you
will feel comfortable with spelling and pronunciation – it is
just a matter of time.
This is also true for the spelling and pronunciation rules we
will study in the following videos.
NO HURRIES, NO WORRIES
BUT
PERSISTENCE

43. That’s all for this video.
Now
it is your turn to show how much you have learned.
HOW?

44. You may take the following quiz.
You cannot learn just by reading and listening.
You may need a piece of paper and a pencil.

45. There are two sets of questions in the quiz.
In this first set there are 10 questions,
5 points each (10x5=50pts).

46. INSTRUCTION
Listen and write the letters you hear.
Each set of letters form a word.
The correct spellings will appear 5 seconds later.
Good luck.

47. KA•DIN (woman)

48. ÇO•CUK (child)

49. OĞ•LAN (boy)

50. ME•SAJ (message)

51. EL•MA (apple)

52. POR•TA•KAL (orange)

53. GÖZ•LÜK (eyeglasses)

54. ÇA•LIŞ•MAK (to work)

55. TÜR•Kİ•YE (Turkey)

56. AY•ŞE (a girl name)

57. In this set
there are also 10 questions,
5 points each (10x5=50pts).

58. INSTRUCTION
Say/Write
the pronunciations of the words with .ğ..
The answers will appear 10 seconds later.
Good luck.

59. Rule # i:
At the end of a syllable, ğ lengthens.the.preceding
vowel.
•

60. Rule # ii:
Between a and ı (ağı), ğ lengthens a;
ı is not pronounced.
•

61. Rule # iii:
Between two e’s (eğe), or between e and i (eği) and
vice versa (iğe),
ğ is pronounced.as y.
•

62. Rule # iv:
Between the vowels other than those which we
have mentioned in rules #ii and iii,
ğ remains silent.
•

63. Rule # v:
Between identical vowels (except between two e's),
ğ remains silent. The vowels are pronounced as one
vowel, lengthening the sound.
When ğ appears between two e's, rule # iii applies.
Also,
•

64. Kağan is written as Kaan.
Both variants are pronounced in the same way,
lengthening a.

65. Rule # iv
• •

66. Rule # i
•

67. Rule # ii
•

68. Rule # iii
•

69. Rule # i
• •

70. I hope you did well.
You can write your scores in comments.
If you have any questions, you can ask them in comments as
well.
In the next video (#2)
we will study
howıthe.letters.combine.to.form syllables.
©easy Turkish Grammar with answers
www.easyturkishgrammar.com