The Turkish Alphabet

The Turkish alphabet consists of 29 letters, seven of which differ from the Latin alphabet to better reflect the pronunciation of the language : ç, ğ, ı, i, ö, ş and ü. Only three Latin letters are not present in Turkish : q, w and x.

Introduced in 1928 as part of Atatürk’s reforms, the current Turkish alphabet replaced the Arabic writing system previously used in the Ottoman Empire. The latinized Turkish alphabet was adopted later by other Turkic languages such as Azerbaijani (1991), Turkmen (1993), and Kazakh (2021), which were formerly written in Arabic or Cyrillic scripts.

List of Turkish alphabet letters with pronunciation and examples

In Turkish, there are 8 vowels and 21 consonants:

Specific pronunciation of Turkish letters

Most of Turkish letters are pronounced the same may as in English. However, there are few differences:

1. C/c (ce): Pronounced as /d͡ʒeː/ like the “j” in “joy”.
   • Example: cam (glass)
2. Ç/ç (çe): Pronounced as /t͡ʃeː/ like the “ch” in “chair”.
   • Example: çay (tea)
3. Ğ/ğ (yumuşak ge): Known as “soft g”, it always follows a vowel and has two pronunciations. Note that there are no words that start with this letter in Turkish.
   • First, if the preceding vowel is one of a, ı, o, u, it lengthens the sound of that vowel.
     • Example: yağmur (rain), ağaç (tree)
   • If the preceding vowel is one of e, i, ö, ü, it is pronounced as “y”.
     • Example: eğitim (education), iğne (needle)
4. I/ı (ı): Pronounced as /ɯː/, a close back unrounded vowel, similar to the “a” in “comma”, coming from the back of the throat.
   • Example: ıslak (wet)
5. İ/i (i): Pronounced as /iː/ like the “ee” in “feet” or the “i” in “lit”. The pronunciation is the same as in English but needs to be distinguished with the “ı” letter in Turkish.
   • Example: inek (cow)
6. J/j (je): Pronounced as /ʒeː/ like the “s” in “measure”.
   • Example: jandarma (military police)
7. Ö/ö (ö): Pronounced as /œː/, an open-mid front rounded vowel, similar to the “eu” in French “jeune” or the “u” in “nurse” with lips rounded.
   • Example: ördek (duck)
8. Ş/ş (şe): Pronounced as /ʃeː/ like the “sh” in “show”.
   • Example: şişe (bottle)
9. Ü/ü (ü): Pronounced as /yː/, a close front rounded vowel, similar to the “u” in French “tu” or the “u” in “cute”.
   • Example: üzüm (grape)

How to write Turkish letters in a keyboard?

Windows Users

1. Add the Turkish Keyboard Layout:
   • Open Settings.
   • Go to Time & Language.
   • Click on Language in the left sidebar.
   • Under Preferred languages, click Add a language.
   • Search for and select Turkish, then click Next and Install.
   • Once installed, click on the Turkish language and select Options.
   • Under Keyboards, click Add a keyboard and choose Turkish QWERTY.
2. Switch Between Keyboards:
   • Press Windows + Space or click the language icon in the taskbar to switch to the Turkish keyboard.

Or you can use the following alt codes:

Mac Users

1. Add the Turkish Keyboard Layout:
   • Open System Preferences.
   • Go to Keyboard.
   • Click on the Input Sources tab.
   • Click the + button at the bottom left.
   • Search for and select Turkish, then click Add.
2. Switch Between Keyboards:
   • Use the Input menu in the menu bar (a flag or character icon) to switch to the Turkish keyboard.
   • You can also press Control + Space to switch between keyboard layouts.
3. Typing Turkish Characters:
   • Ç – Option + C
   • ç – Option + c
   • Ğ – Option + G
   • ğ – Option + g
   • İ – Shift + Option + i
   • ı – Option + i
   • Ö – Option + Shift + o
   • ö – Option + o
   • Ş – Option + S
   • ş – Option + s
   • Ü – Option + Shift + u
   • ü – Option + u