The Turkish Alphabet with Pronunciation for Kids and Adults

The Turkish alphabet with pronunciation

Tap a card: first you’ll hear the letter’s name, then the word. Vowels are marked in pink. Every letter you listen to earns a star — collect all 29!

NormalSlow

0 of 29 heard

The Turkish alphabet: a chart with IPA

All 29 letters: the IPA, how it sounds, an example word and the city name used to spell it out on the phone.

The Turkish alphabet with IPA and pronunciation
Letter	IPA	Word	Spelling (A — Adana)
A a	[a]	arı — bee	Adana
B b	[be]	balık — fish	Bolu
C c	[dʒe]	civciv — chick	Ceyhan
Ç ç	[tʃe]	çiçek — flower	Çanakkale
D d	[de]	dondurma — ice cream	Denizli
E e	[e]	elma — apple	Edirne
F f	[fe]	fil — elephant	Fatsa
G g	[ɟe]	güneş — sun	Giresun
Ğ ğ	[jumuˈʃak ɟe]	dağ — mountain	yumuşak G
H h	[he]	havuç — carrot	Hatay
I ı	[ɯ]	ıspanak — spinach	Isparta
İ i	[i]	inek — cow	İzmir
J j	[ʒe]	jeton — token	Jandarma
K k	[ce]	kedi — cat	Kars
L l	[le]	limon — lemon	Lüleburgaz
M m	[me]	muz — banana	Malatya
N n	[ne]	nane — mint	Niğde
O o	[o]	otobüs — bus	Ordu
Ö ö	[œ]	ördek — duck	Ödemiş
P p	[pe]	peynir — cheese	Polatlı
R r	[ɾe]	robot — robot	Rize
S s	[se]	su — water	Sinop
Ş ş	[ʃe]	şemsiye — umbrella	Şırnak
T t	[te]	tavşan — rabbit	Tokat
U u	[u]	uçak — plane	Uşak
Ü ü	[y]	üzüm — grapes	Ünye
V v	[ve]	vapur — ferry	Van
Y y	[je]	yıldız — star	Yozgat
Z z	[ze]	zürafa — giraffe	Zonguldak

Turks spell words out with city names: “A — Adana, B — Bolu, C — Ceyhan”. English sound-alikes are only approximate: Ö, Ü and the dotless I have no English equivalent, and Ğ is barely pronounced.

Turkish alphabet games

A round is 10 questions. Good for kids and adults alike: praise for every right answer, stars for every round.

Hear the letterListen to the name of a letter in Turkish and find it among four.First letterLook at the picture and choose the letter the Turkish word starts with.What’s missing?Four letters in a row, one is missing. Which? Remember: Ç comes after C and Ş after S.Big and smallFind the capital for the small letter: ç — Ç, ı — I, i — İ.

Spell it out

How do you spell your name, surname or email in Turkish? Type it in Latin letters — and see (and hear) what to call each letter. Handy at a hotel reception, a car rental desk, the doctor’s or on the phone.

Name, surname or email in Latin letters

Start typing and the letters will appear here.

Vowels and consonants

The Turkish alphabet has 29 letters: no Q, W or X, but Ç, Ğ, Ş, Ö, Ü and two different i’s — the dotless I (a sound like the u in “radium”, said with spread lips) and the dotted İ (“ee”). There are eight vowels: A, E, I, İ, O, Ö, U, Ü — back (a, ı, o, u) and front (e, i, ö, ü). Suffixes depend on that: evler but okullar.

Turkish is read as it’s written: every letter always sounds the same. Remember c [dʒ] as in “jam”, ç [tʃ] as in “chair”, ş [ʃ] as in “shoe”, and Ğ is hardly pronounced at all — it just lengthens the vowel before it: dağ — “daa”.

Vowels · 8

Consonants · 21

The letters people mix up most

These letters don’t sound the way English suggests. Tap to listen.

Two different letters! The dotless I is [ɯ], like the vowel in “roses” said with flat lips: ılık. The dotted İ is [i], “ee”: inek. Lower-case I is ı, lower-case İ is i: İstanbul, ISPARTA → ısparta.
C is always “j” as in “jam”: cami — “JAH-mee”. Ç is “ch”: çay — “chai”. Turkish has no “k” or “s” sound for C.
S is “s”, Ş is “sh”: şeker — “sheh-KEHR”. Without the hook it’s another word: kas — muscle, kaş — eyebrow.
G is a hard “g”: gece — “geh-JEH”. Ğ (yumuşak ge, “soft g”) is silent: it lengthens the vowel or sounds like a light “y”: dağ — “daa”, değil — “deh-eel”.
Ö: round your lips for “o” and say “e” — like the German ö or the French eu: göz. O is a plain “o”.
Ü: round your lips for “oo” and say “ee” — like the German ü or the French u: üç. U is a plain “oo”.

How to learn the Turkish alphabet

You can learn the alphabet in a few days with a little practice every day. Here’s what works.

For parents: the alphabet with your child

5–10 minutes a day instead of one long hour: your child won’t get tired and will look forward to the next time.
Listen to the alphabet together and repeat aloud — rhythm sticks faster than a list.
Start with the letters of your child’s name: “Senin adın — M, A, K, S, İ, M!”
Play “First letter” and look for things at home with the same letter: elma, top, kedi…
Praise in Turkish: “Harika!”, “Aferin!” — your child will soon pick it up.

For adults: why learn the alphabet

Spell your name, surname or email at reception, a car rental desk or on the phone — without “Nasıl yazılıyor?”.
Read signs, menus and bus stop names: Turkish is read as it’s written.
Know how people spell things out: “A — Adana, B — Bolu” avoids mistakes in important details.
Practise I and İ, C and Ç, S and Ş, G and Ğ separately — they cause the most mistakes.

FAQ

Didn’t find your answer? Send us a request — we’ll tell you everything.

How many letters are in the Turkish alphabet?

29: 21 consonants and 8 vowels. Compared with English it has no Q, W or X, but it has Ç, Ğ, I (dotless), Ö, Ş and Ü. The modern Latin-based Turkish alphabet has been in use since 1928; before that Turkish was written in Arabic script.

What’s the difference between I and İ?

They’re two separate letters. The dotless I (lower case ı) is a vowel English doesn’t have, a bit like the “u” in “radium” with spread lips: ılık, kız. The dotted İ (lower case i) is “ee”: inek, bir. The dot stays on the capital too: İstanbul, İzmir.

How do you pronounce Ğ?

Ğ (yumuşak ge) has no sound of its own. After a, ı, o, u it lengthens the vowel: dağ — “daa”, yağmur — “yaa-moor”. Between e and i it sounds like a light “y”: değil — “deh-eel”. No word starts with it.

How do I spell my name or email in Turkish?

Say each letter’s name and, to be sure, add a city: “A — Adana, N — Niğde”. Symbols: @ is et, the dot is nokta, the hyphen is tire, _ is alt çizgi. Try the “Spell it out” tool above.

Is Turkish hard to read?

No — it’s one of the easiest languages to read. Every letter always sounds the same, and there are hardly any letter combinations like in English or French. Learn c, ç, ş, ğ and ı and you can read any word.

Where should I start learning Turkish?

The alphabet and pronunciation rules are the first step. Then learn the basic phrases and the 50 most common words, take the free Turkish level test, and for a trip — the “Turkish for Travel” mini-course.

What’s next

Next step

Keep learning with a mini-course

Short online courses by Slay School teachers: a 15-minute lesson a day with audio, exercises and dialogues, and the words you forget come back on their own.

Day 1 is free
15 minutes a day, at your own pace
Every word has audio
Lifetime access once paid

Start for free All mini-courses

All you need to start is an email or a Google account.

Day 1 — freeLevel A1–A2
Turkish for Travel in 10 Days
10 travel situations — airport, border, hotel, café, transport, shopping, pharmacy — with ready Turkish phrases, dialogues and AI role-play.
10 days · $15About the course

The Turkish alphabet with pronunciation: A to Z through play