Meeting People

Turkish uses the Latin alphabet with 29 letters. It is a phonetic alphabet: each letter always makes the same sound, and every letter is pronounced. There are no silent letters and almost no surprises. Once you learn the table below, you can pronounce any Turkish word you see, including names and signs.

Letters that are new, or that sound different from English, are marked ★. The letters q, w and x are not in the Turkish alphabet.

Turkish has exactly eight vowels, and they come in pairs. This table is the key to the whole language, because the harmony rules in Topic 2 depend on it.

"Back" and "front" refer to where your tongue is. Say a then e: you can feel your tongue move forward. Say ı then i: the same movement. The rounded vowels are said with the lips pushed forward.

• ı versus i. They are different letters and different sounds. Kız (girl) and kiz do not sound alike. The dot matters in capitals too: capital of i is İ (İstanbul, İzmir), capital of ı is I (Isparta).
• c and ç. c is always English j. Ç is English ch. So cam is "jam" (it means glass), and çam is "cham" (it means pine).
• s and ş. S is always s. Ş is sh. Su (water) versus şu (that).
• ğ. Think of it as a stretch mark. Dağ (mountain) sounds like "daa". Öğretmen sounds like "öö-ret-men". Between two vowels it is a faint y-like glide or nothing: değil sounds like "de-yil" or "deel".
• h. Always pronounce it: merhaba is "mer-HA-ba", sabah ends in a clear breath.
• e is always short, as in "bed". Never "ee" and never silent at the end of a word: pencere has three syllables, pen-je-re.

Every letter is read, one by one, with its one sound. A doubled letter is held longer: teşekkür has a long kk. That is the whole rule.

Most Turkish words are stressed on the last syllable: ara-BA, ka-LEM, gü-ZEL, öğret-MEN. Common exceptions: place names and some loanwords and greetings are stressed earlier (AN-ka-ra, MER-ha-ba, HA-yır), and the question particle mI is never stressed. More in Section J.

29 letters, one sound each, no silent letters. Learn the six special letters (c, ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş, ü) and the eight-vowel table, and you can read anything.

Supplementary lesson. Your study plan does not list this as a separate topic, but every ending in the plan (-lAr, -DA, -Iyor, -(y)A…) follows these rules. Fifteen minutes here saves hours later.

English puts small words in front: in the house, my house, the houses. Turkish puts endings on the back: ev (house), evler (houses), evde (in the house), evim (my house), evlerimde (in my houses). One word in Turkish often equals three or four words in English.

Each ending has a fixed meaning. What changes is its vowel, and sometimes its first consonant, to match the word in front of it. This matching is called vowel harmony. It is not decoration; it is how Turkish sounds like Turkish, and getting it wrong is the number-one beginner mistake.

Your plan writes endings like -lAr, -DA, -mI. A capital letter means "this slot changes to match the word". The brackets in -(y)A mean "this letter appears only when needed".

Look at the last vowel of the word. If it is a back vowel (a, ı, o, u), the ending takes a. If it is a front vowel (e, i, ö, ü), the ending takes e.

Again, look at the last vowel of the word.

A memory aid: the ending vowel is "the same kind" as the last vowel. Unrounded stays unrounded (a, ı → ı; e, i → i). Rounded stays rounded (o, u → u; ö, ü → ü). Back stays back, front stays front.

When several endings are added, each one harmonises with the vowel just before it, so harmony runs along the word like a chain: ev-ler-im-de (in my houses), okul-lar-ım-da (in my schools).

Turkish does not like two vowels side by side. If a word ends in a vowel and the ending starts with a vowel, a buffer consonant is inserted. The commonest is y: İstanbullu + -Im → İstanbullu-y-um. You will meet n and s in Unit 4. The brackets in -(y)Im tell you that y appears only after a vowel: Türk-üm (I'm Turkish, no buffer) but İzmirli-y-im (I'm from İzmir, buffer).

Two consonant rules appear from Unit 2 onwards. You do not need to use them yet, only to recognise them.

• D becomes t after the "hard" consonants f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p. Turkish learners remember them with the nonsense phrase FıSTıKÇı ŞaHaP (the pistachio seller Şahap). So "in the house" is evde, but "in the book" is kitapta (Unit 2).
• A word-final p, ç, t, k often softens to b, c, d, ğ when a vowel is added: kitap → kitab-ı (the book, Unit 4), çocuk → çocuğ-u. Single-syllable words usually do not change (at → atı).

Some loanwords break vowel harmony because their last vowel is pronounced "front" even though it is written a. The one you need now is saat (clock, hour): plural saatler, question saat mi?. Others (alkol, rol, hal) are marked when they appear.

Look at the last vowel. For A: a/ı/o/u → a, e/i/ö/ü → e. For I: a/ı → ı, e/i → i, o/u → u, ö/ü → ü. Put a y between two vowels. Watch for saat.

Turkish has two words for "you". Sen is for one person you are close to: a friend, a child, a sibling, a cousin your own age. Siz is for more than one person, and also for one person you address politely: an older relative, a neighbour, a shopkeeper, anyone you have just met as an adult. Every greeting and question in this unit has a sen form and a siz form. Choosing the right one is part of being polite in Turkish.

The pattern: the siz form adds -iz, -ız, -uz or -ınız/-iniz/-unuz (four-way harmony) to the sen form. You will learn why in Unit 2 (personal endings). For now, learn both columns as pairs.

İyiyim literally is iyi (good) + -yim (I am), one of the personal endings you will study in Unit 2. Learn it now as a chunk.

If you mix them up, people will understand you, but güle güle from the person leaving sounds odd, like saying "safe trip" to someone who is staying home.

When you arrive at someone's home or a shop, the host says Hoş geldin(iz)! The guest always replies Hoş bulduk! There is no other correct reply, so do not translate "thank you" here.

Selam and sen forms are fine within the family between people of the same generation. Older relatives (an aunt, a grandmother, your spouse's parents) are usually addressed with siz, even though they are family. When in doubt, use siz; nobody is offended by extra politeness.

Pick sen for friends and children, siz for everyone else. Learn the greeting pairs. Reply hoş bulduk to hoş geldiniz. The one leaving says hoşça kal, the one staying says güle güle.

This is Produce task 1.1: your name, where you are from, where you live. Three of the four sentences use endings you will study in later units. Here you learn them as fixed phrases with slots. By the end of Unit 3 you will understand every piece.

Three ways, all correct:

Asking: Adın ne? (informal) / Adınız ne? (polite). You can also hear İsmin ne? / İsminiz ne? with the synonym isim.

Answering with a title when it matters: Ben Ayşe. Ayşe Yılmaz. Turks give the first name first, then the surname.

The question is Nerelisin? / Nerelisiniz? (nereli = "from where"). The answer attaches -lı/-li/-lu/-lü to a city or country name (meaning "from that place", "a person of that place") and then adds -yım/-yim/-yum/-yüm ("I am").

Both endings follow four-way harmony with the vowel before them. Because -lI ends in a vowel, the buffer y is always needed before -Im.

For other people, drop the -yIm part: Mert İzmirli. Ayşe Hanım İstanbullu. Selma Endonezyalı. Onlar Londralı. Third person needs no ending.

An alternative using "from" (the ablative ending -DAn, Unit 3): İstanbul'danım. Türkiye'denim. Endonezya'danım. Both ways are natural; -lI says "I'm an İstanbul person", -DAn says "I come from İstanbul".

-da/-de is the location ending "in/at" (Unit 2); it follows two-way harmony: İstanbul'da, Ankara'da, İzmir'de, Berlin'de. Oturuyorum is "I live / I sit" in the present tense (Unit 3). Question: Nerede oturuyorsun? / Nerede oturuyorsunuz?

Third person: Ali Bey Ankara'da oturuyor. (Mr Ali lives in Ankara.)

Endings attached to a proper noun (a name of a person or place) are separated with an apostrophe in writing: İstanbul'da, Selma'nın (Unit 4), Türkiye'den. The apostrophe does not change pronunciation. Note that -lI is not separated: İstanbullu, Londralı (because -lI makes a new word rather than a case ending).

Ben Selma. / Adım Selma. Origin: place + -lI + -yIm. Home: place + 'DA + oturuyorum. Ask with Adın(ız) ne? Nerelisin(iz)? Nerede oturuyorsun(uz)?

Bu, şu and o are the pointing words. English has two (this, that); Turkish has three, graded by distance. They let you name anything in the room, ask what something is, and introduce people (Bu Mert = "This is Mert"). They are the backbone of Produce task 1.2.

Şu is also the word for drawing attention to something you are about to show: Şu kitap çok güzel (that book there is really nice). O also means "he/she/it".

Notice: Bu masa. means "This is a table", but Bu masa eski. means "This table is old." The difference is only whether something follows the noun. In speech, a short pause after bu signals the first meaning: Bu, masa.

In the third person, Turkish needs no word for "is" or "are". Bu kalem is a complete sentence. Kapı açık ("The door is open") is a complete sentence. (A formal ending -DIr exists; you do not need it at A1 and will meet a different use of -DIr in Unit 5.)

Değil means "not". It comes after the word it denies, at the end of the sentence.

Değil is covered fully in Unit 2 (Study Plan Topic 2.3), where it takes personal endings (değilim = I am not). Here you only need the plain third-person form.

The question word simply takes the place of the answer. Word order does not change, and there is no question particle with ne and kim.

O is also the pronoun "he/she/it", so O öğretmen can mean "That is a teacher" or "He/She is a teacher". Context decides, and it rarely matters. When bu, şu, o take endings (plural, case) they gain an n: bunlar, şunlar, onlar (next topic), bunda, onda (Unit 2).

bu = this (near), şu = that (pointed at), o = that (far) or he/she/it. Bu kalem = "This is a pen"; Bu kalem yeni = "This pen is new". Negative: add değil at the end. Ask with Bu ne? / Bu kim?

-lAr is the plural ending, the Turkish equivalent of English -s. It is the first real ending you add to a word, and the perfect place to practise two-way vowel harmony.

Add -lar if the last vowel of the word is a, ı, o, u. Add -ler if the last vowel is e, i, ö, ü.

Only the last vowel counts. Öğretmen has ö, e, e: the last is e, so öğretmenler. Bilgisayar ends in a: bilgisayarlar.

Note the extra n. It is the buffer letter for bu, şu, o.

Important: in Bunlar kitap ("These are books"), the noun after bunlar stays singular. Turkish does not repeat the plural on a describing noun. Bunlar kitaplar is heard, but Bunlar kitap is the standard form and the one to learn.

Yes/no questions with plurals are in Topic 7.

• After a number, the noun stays singular: iki kitap (two books), not iki kitaplar. Numbers come in Unit 2.
• Adjectives never take the plural: büyük evler (big houses), never büyükler evler.

Saat → saatler. Also, Turkish does not use the plural for a general class in the way English does: Kedi güzel can mean "Cats are nice". Use the plural when you mean specific, countable, several things.

Last vowel a/ı/o/u → -lar; e/i/ö/ü → -ler. Bunlar, şunlar, onlar. After bunlar the noun stays singular. No plural after numbers or on adjectives.

English makes yes/no questions by changing word order ("Is this a pen?"). Turkish keeps the word order and adds a small separate word, mı / mi / mu / mü, after the word you are asking about. Once you know it, you can turn every sentence in this unit into a question.

Statement + mI (as a separate word, four-way harmony with the vowel before it) + rising intonation on the word before mI.

mI is written as a separate word but pronounced as part of the previous word, without stress: ka-LEM mi, bü-YÜK mü.

The most natural "no" answer repeats the key word with değil, and often adds the correct word: Hayır, kalem değil, defter ("No, not a pen, a notebook").

Use mI on both options: Bu kalem mi, defter mi? ("Is this a pen or a notebook?"). Answer with the correct word: Defter.

mI follows the word you are really asking about. Normally that is the last word of the sentence. Moving it changes the focus:

At A1 you mainly need the end position. Just be aware that mI after bu/şu/o is possible and shifts the emphasis.

mI is one of only a few Turkish endings that are written as a separate word. The others you meet at A1 are de/da (also) and ki (Unit 6). With saat: saat mi? (exception word).

Add mı/mi/mu/mü after the word you are asking about, usually at the end. Rising tone on the word before it. Answer Evet or Hayır, … değil. Question words (ne, kim) never take mI.

Vocabulary and expressions to notice

• Hoş geldiniz / Hoş bulduk: Ayşe welcomes Selma to the building even though it is Selma's flat. The pair is used whenever someone arrives somewhere new.
• Selma Hanım: the title goes after the first name. Ayşe uses it because they are not yet on familiar terms.
• Ben de memnun oldum: "me too" with de.
• Peki: a soft "well then", used to close a topic before leaving.

Grammar to notice

• Every question is in the siz form: Adınız ne? Nerelisiniz? Nerede oturuyorsunuz? Nasılsınız?
• Ayşe leaves, so she says hoşça kalın. Selma stays and says güle güle.
• Ben İstanbulluyum versus Endonezyalıyım: harmony chooses -lu-yum after u and -lı-yım after a.
• Eşim Türk: "my husband is Turkish". Eşim is a fixed phrase for now (Unit 4 explains the -im ending); Türk needs no ending in the third person.

Comprehension check

1. Selma nereli? (Where is Selma from?) Eşi nereli? (And her husband?)
2. Ayşe Hanım nereli?
3. Selma şimdi nerede oturuyor? (Where does Selma live now?)
4. Who says hoşça kalın, and why that form?
5. Find the two sentences that mean "me too / I too".

Questions

1. Selma nereli? Baran nereli? Selma şimdi nerede oturuyor?
2. Ev yeni mi?
3. Kapı açık mı?
4. Deniz öğrenci mi?
5. Who is Ayşe Hanım, and what two words describe her?

Say the pairs below slowly. In each pair, only one thing changes.

Drill: say a, ı, o, u (all back), then e, i, ö, ü (all front). Feel your tongue move forward for the second set. This is the physical basis of vowel harmony.

The commonest beginner error is pronouncing ı like i. ı is said with the tongue pulled back and the lips relaxed; it is close to the vowel in the second syllable of English "roses".

Practise: kapı, halı, kapalı, hayır, adım, nasılsın, Ankaralıyım.

Practise: öğrenci, öğretmen, gözlük, güzel, büyük, küçük, kötü, görüşürüz, teşekkür, üç.

Minimal pairs: cam (glass) – çam (pine) · su (water) – şu (that) · sok (insert) – şok (shock).

Three cases:

1. After a vowel at the end of a syllable: lengthen the vowel. dağ = "daa", öğretmen = "öö-ret-men", fotoğraf = "fo-too-raf".
2. Between two back vowels: a faint glide or nothing. ağaç = "a-ach".
3. Between two front vowels: a light y. değil = "de-yil".

Never pronounce ğ as a hard g. Practise: öğrenci, öğretmen, değil, sağ ol, fotoğraf, yağmur.

• h: merhaba (mer-HA-ba), hayır, hoş, sabah.
• Final e is a full vowel: sandalye (san-dal-YE), pencere (pen-je-RE), perde, teyze, aile.

Default: the last syllable. Say these with a slight push on the final syllable: ka-LEM, ma-SA, ki-TAP, gü-ZEL, kü-ÇÜK, öğ-ret-MEN, te-le-FON, bil-gi-sa-YAR, İs-tan-bul-lu-YUM.

Exceptions in this unit:

Endings usually take the stress, so the stress moves to the end as you add them: ev → ev-LER → ev-ler-DE. The exceptions are değil, mI and de/da, which are never stressed; the stress stays on the syllable before them: ka-LEM mi?, ka-LEM değil, BEN de.

A statement falls at the end. A mI question rises on the stressed syllable just before mI and then drops on mI itself:

• Bu ka-LEM. ↘
• Bu ka-LEM mi? ↗ on LEM, ↘ on mi.
• Ka-pı a-ÇIK mı? ↗ on ÇIK.

Question-word questions (Bu ne? O kim? Nerelisin?) do not rise at the end; they sound like statements with the stress on the question word.

Although written separately, mI and de/da are glued to the previous word in speech. Read kalem mi as one word, "kalemmi", and ben de as "bende". This is why beginners sometimes hear them as endings.

Read aloud, slowly, then at speed. Every letter has exactly one sound.

Match the Turkish word (1–12) with its English meaning (a–l).

Put these ten words into Turkish alphabetical order. Remember: c comes before ç, ı before i, o before ö, s before ş, u before ü.

Write the plural of each word.

1. masa →
2. ev →
3. kalem →
4. okul →
5. gözlük →
6. kapı →
7. öğretmen →
8. telefon →
9. saat →
10. bu →
11. araba →
12. kedi →

Add the correct form of mI.

1. Bu kalem ?
2. Şu masa ?
3. O okul ?
4. Bu gözlük ?
5. Kapı açık ?
6. Ev büyük ?
7. Mert öğrenci ?
8. Ayşe Hanım Türk ?
9. Telefon yeni ?
10. Oda temiz ?
11. Onlar komşu ?
12. Bu saat ?

Complete the dialogue with words from the box. Each word is used once.

Ali: Merhaba, hoş geldiniz!
Selma: Hoş (1) .
Ali: Ben Ali. (2) ne?
Selma: Adım Selma. (3) oldum.
Ali: Ben (4) memnun oldum. (5) ?
Selma: İyiyim, (6) ederim. Siz nasılsınız?
Ali: Ben de iyiyim. Peki, (7) kalın!
Selma: (8) güle!

Fill in the slots, then say the whole thing without looking.

Merhaba! Ben ______ . (name) ______lıyım / liyim / luyum / lüyüm. (your city or country) Şimdi ______'da / 'de oturuyorum. (where you live) Memnun oldum!

Harmony help: Endonezya → Endonezyalıyım; Cakarta → Cakartalıyım; Londra → Londralıyım; Berlin → Berlinliyim; Bursa → Bursalıyım; Köln → Kölnlüyüm; Bolu → Boluluyum. Location: Londra'da, Berlin'de, İzmir'de, Ankara'da.

Add two more lines: Ben öğretmen değilim is Unit 2; for now, add a person: Bu ______ . ______ eşim / arkadaş / kuzen / komşu. And a reaction: İstanbul çok güzel!

• I said my name with Ben or Adım.
• My -lI and -yIm vowels match the last vowel of the place name.
• I used 'da or 'de correctly and the apostrophe in writing.
• I said it aloud three times without reading.
• I wrote it down and checked spelling of ı/i, ö/ü, ş, ç.