Turkish Alphabet and Pronunciation

Turkish uses a modified Latin alphabet with 29 letters. It has 8 vowels (a, e, ı, i, o, ö, u, ü) and 21 consonants.

Unique letters:

• Ç/ç - like 'ch' in 'chair'

• Ğ/ğ - silent, lengthens preceding vowel

• İ/i - dotted i, like 'ee' in 'see'

• I/ı - undotted i, like 'uh'

• Ö/ö - like German ö or French eu

• Ş/ş - like 'sh' in 'shoe'

• Ü/ü - like German ü or French u

Turkish pronunciation is very regular - words are pronounced exactly as they're written.

Key rules:

• Every letter is pronounced

• Stress usually falls on the last syllable

• No silent letters (except ğ)

• Double consonants are pronounced longer