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Grammar guide

Vowel Harmony

Master the fundamental rule of Turkish grammar: vowel harmony

A1 20 min

What is Vowel Harmony?

Vowel harmony is the most important rule in Turkish. When adding suffixes to words, the vowels in the suffix must harmonize (match) with the vowels in the root word.


There are two types of harmony:

1. E-type (2-way) harmony: e/a

2. I-type (4-way) harmony: i/ı/ü/u

ev-de
at home

ev has 'e', so suffix uses 'e'

okul-da
at school

okul has back vowels, so suffix uses 'a'

E-type Harmony (e/a)

Front vowels (e, i, ö, ü) → suffix uses 'e'

Back vowels (a, ı, o, u) → suffix uses 'a'


This harmony is used in many common suffixes like -de/-da (at/in), -den/-dan (from), -le/-la (with).

şehir-de
in the city

Front vowels → 'de'

masa-da
on the table

Back vowels → 'da'

ev-den
from home

Front vowels → 'den'

okul-dan
from school

Back vowels → 'dan'

I-type Harmony (i/ı/ü/u)

This 4-way harmony matches both frontness and roundedness:


After e, i → use 'i'

After a, ı → use 'ı'

After ö, ü → use 'ü'

After o, u → use 'u'


Used in suffixes like possessives (e.g., -im/-ım/-üm/-um for "my").

ev-im
my home

e → i

kız-ım
my daughter

ı → ı

göz-üm
my eye

ö → ü

okul-um
my school

u → u

Exercises

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Complete: kitap-__ (at the book)

Answer: da

kitap has back vowels (a), so use 'da'

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Complete: gül-__ (my rose)

Answer: üm

gül has ü (front rounded), so possessive uses 'üm'