Turkish Pronunciation

Learn how to pronounce Turkish

This tutorial was written by Ömer & Mehmet Sener. If you are interested in authentic uses of language, go to Turkish realia for photos taken in Turkey.

Need more Turkish? Try the Turkish courses at Udemy and the audio and video lessons at TurkishClass101.com

Turkish Pronunciation

a	car	ı	cousin	r	role (rolled)
b	big	i	tea	s	sun
c	jam	j	Jean d’Arc	ş	shine
ç	charm	k	kid	t	time
d	do	l	lake	u	wood
e	ever	m	mine	ü	fruit
f	fight	n	nine	v	van
g	gate	o	grow	y	yard
ğ	see below.	ö	first	z	zoo
h	harp	p	push

Turkish is a very phonetic language, so pronunciation is very easy. Most words are pronounced exactly as they are spelled.

ü is exactly pronounced like “u” in French, like “tu”.

ğ is in most cases a silent letter. It has a unique sound to it when pronounced separately. (The closest would be the “r” sound in French, but ğ is not a guttural letter.)

Today, ğ is used:

1. as a vowel lengthener, that is, it lengthens the vowel that precedes it.

Dağ (“da:”) “mountain”

Ağlamak (“a:lamak”) “to cry”

Ağaç (“a:ch”) “tree”

2. in the middle of two vowels to connect them.

Eğilmek “to stoop”, eğitim “education”.

ı is pronounced like the “e” sound of “kommen” in German. It is an undotted i in appearance.

kâ is pronounced like the “qua” sound in “quatre” in French.

gâ is pronounced in a similar way, similar to “gare” in French.

lâ is pronounced like the “la” sound in French.