You will meet all 29 letters in order, sort them into vowels and consonants, and say c and ç, s and ş without mixing them up. No recording is attached to this lesson, so it teaches through spelling and mouth position.
The idea
The Turkish alphabet has 29 letters: 8 vowels (a e ı i o ö u ü) and 21 consonants. Three letters of the Latin alphabet are missing (q w x) and six are added (ç ğ ı ö ş ü). Spelling is phonetic: each letter stands for one sound and none is silent. In alphabetical order each added letter follows its plain partner (c ç, g ğ, s ş, o ö, u ü), and ı comes before i.
| Pair | Place in the alphabet | Words |
|---|---|---|
| c, ç | 3, 4 | cam, çam |
| g, ğ | 8, 9 | göl, dağ |
| ı, i | 11, 12 | ışık, iş |
| o, ö | 18, 19 | on, ön |
| s, ş | 22, 23 | su, şu |
| u, ü | 25, 26 | un, ün |
Examples
- Türkçe alfabede yirmi dokuz harf var.There are twenty-nine letters in the Turkish alphabet.
- Her harfi tek tek okuyorum.I read each letter one by one.
- Şimdi çay içiyoruz.We are drinking tea now.
- camglass; a window paneThe letter c is said like the j in jam, and ç like the ch in chair. One cedilla turns cam (glass) into çam (pine).
- çampine tree
- dağmountainThe letter ğ never starts a word. After a back vowel such as a it is not a g: it only lengthens the vowel, so dağ sounds close to a long da.
- garajgarageThe letter j is rare and appears mostly in loanwords. It sounds like the s in measure.
- taksitaxiTurkish has no x. The sound ks is written with k and s, so taxi becomes taksi.
Read-aloud uses a synthetic Turkish voice available on your device. Voice quality and availability vary; it does not assess your pronunciation.
No Turkish device voice is available. You can still read the text.
Watch out
Do not read the letters with the values they have in your own language. Turkish c is the j of jam and ç is the ch of chair, so cam (glass) and çam (pine) are different words. There is no x either: taxi is written taksi.
Try it yourself
How many letters are in the Turkish alphabet?
Show answer or example answer
29 / yirmi dokuz
29 (yirmi dokuz): 8 vowels plus 21 consonants make 29, and q w x are not among them.
Which letter comes right after c in the alphabet?
Show answer or example answer
ç
ç: it is a separate letter placed straight after c, so the order runs c ç d.
Write the whole word: ___am (pine tree, starts with the ch sound)
Show answer or example answer
çam
çam: the first sound is the ch of chair, written ç; cam with a plain c means glass.
Write "taxi" in Turkish spelling (no x).
Show answer or example answer
taksi
taksi: there is no x in the alphabet, so k and s write the sound ks.
Practice round
Answer questions, then rebuild Turkish sentences and words where available. We keep your score.
How many letters are in the Turkish alphabet?
29 / yirmi dokuz
Which letter comes right after c in the alphabet?
Write the whole word: ___am (pine tree, starts with the ch sound)
Write "taxi" in Turkish spelling (no x).
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Tap the words in the right order.
Keep your progress
Sign up for free to save your practice results in your account.
Sign up to saveI already have an accountUse it today
Write the 29 letters in order from memory, circle the ones that look new to you, and say each of them aloud.