Turkish Alphabet
The Turkish alphabet has 29 letters:
- Capital letters. : A B C Ç D E F G Ğ H I İ J K L M N O Ö P R S Ş T U Ü V Y Z
- Lower case letters : a b c ç d e f g ğ h ı i j k l m n o ö p r s ş t u ü v y z
Vowels
There are 8 vowels in the Turkish alphabet:
Vowels | Unrounded | Rounded |
Back | a, ı | o, u |
Front | e, i | ö, ü |
Consonants
There are 21 consonants in the Turkish alphabet:
Letters | Pronunciation | Letters | Pronunciation |
A a | a as in run | M m | m as in may |
B b | b as in boy | N n | n as in no |
C c | j as in jam | O o | o as in for |
Ç ç | ch as in chat | Ö ö | ir as in bird or ur as in fur |
D d | d as in dog | P p | p as in pay |
E e | e as in bet | R r | r as in ring |
F f | f as in fog | S s | s as in sit |
G g | g as in gun | Ş ş | sh as in shop |
Ğ ğ | lengthens preceding vowel | T t | t as in tin |
H h | h as in hat | U u | u as in put |
I ı | i as in open | Ü ü | ew as in few or ü as in Über |
İ i | i as in fit | V v | v as in very |
J j | j as in measure | Y y | y as in yes |
K k | k as in kiss | Z z | z as in zip |
L l | l as in lap |
Lower case i
The lower case i is always dotted when capitalised:
- bir : one ⇒ BİR
- iz : trace ⇒ İZ
Lower case ı
The lower case ı is always dotless when capitalised:
- sır : secret ⇒ SIR
- sıfır : zero ⇒ SIFIR
Letters Q, W and X
Q, W, and X do not occur in Turkish but Turkish speakers can easily recognise them:
- faks = fax
- taksi = taxi
- Vav! = Wow!
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