Dotless ı and dotted i

The idea

Turkish has two different i letters. ı is a back vowel said with spread lips and the tongue pulled back, and i is a front vowel like the ee in see. The capitals follow the dot: ı becomes I and i becomes İ, so ışık is IŞIK and iş is İŞ.

Examples

• Kız ılık süt içiyor.The girl is drinking warm milk.
• Kapıda iki kız var.There are two girls at the door.
• Çocuk ışıkta kitap okuyor.The child is reading a book in the light.
• ışıklightIn capital letters the dotless ı stays a plain I: IŞIK.
• kırcountryside, open fields
• kirdirt
• IspartaIsparta, a city in south-western Turkey
• İzmirİzmir, a city on the Aegean coast

Watch out

A missing or added dot gives another word: kır (countryside) is not kir (dirt). A plain I is not an İ either: Isparta and İzmir start with different letters.

Try it yourself

1. Type the whole word for “dirt”.

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   kir

   kir: the vowel has a dot, as in iki; the word means dirt.

2. Type the whole word for “countryside”.

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   kır

   kır: the vowel has no dot, as in kız; the word means countryside.

3. Type the whole word for “light”. Two vowels are missing.

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   ışık

   ışık: both gaps take the dotless ı, with ş standing between them.

Use it today

Pick five words from this page, say each aloud, then write them in capitals and check every I and İ.