Turkish Pronunciation & IPA Guide
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Open Pronouncer Tool →The Turkish Alphabet & IPA
Turkish is completely phonetic — every letter has exactly one sound. The modern alphabet uses Latin characters with a few specific modifiers. Here are the most important ones for English speakers to know:
- C /c/: Pronounced like the English "J" in jump. (e.g., cam = "jam")
- Ç /tʃ/: Pronounced like the English "CH" in church.
- Ş /ʃ/: Pronounced like the English "SH" in shoe.
- Ö /ø/: Front rounded vowel, similar to the German Ö or French eu.
- Ü /y/: Front rounded vowel, similar to the German Ü or French u.
- I (undotted i) /ɯ/: High back unrounded vowel, similar to the sound in "cousin".
- İ (dotted i) /i/: Pronounced like the English "EE" in see.
The Soft G (Ğ)
The letter ğ (yumuşak ge) is one of the most distinctive features of Turkish phonology. It never appears at the beginning of a word and has no sound of its own. Instead, it lengthens the preceding vowel. For example, dağ (mountain) is pronounced /daː/.