Turkish alphabet facts for kids
The Turkish alphabet is used for writing and reading in the Turkish language. It's a special version of the Latin alphabet, which is the same alphabet used for English!
There are 29 letters in the Turkish alphabet. You might notice that three letters from the English alphabet – "Q", "W", and "X" – are not used in Turkish. But Turkish has seven unique letters that English doesn't have: Ç, Ğ, I, İ, Ö, Ş, and Ü.
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Turkish Alphabet Letters
Here are all the letters in the Turkish alphabet, both big (capital) and small (lowercase):
| Capital Letters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| A | B | C | Ç | D | E | F | G | Ğ | H | I | İ | J | K | L | M | N | O | Ö | P | R | S | Ş | T | U | Ü | V | Y | Z |
| Lowercase Letters | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| a | b | c | ç | d | e | f | g | ğ | h | ı | i | j | k | l | m | n | o | ö | p | r | s | ş | t | u | ü | v | y | z |
Vowels and Consonants
Just like in English, Turkish letters are divided into vowels and consonants.
- There are 8 vowels in the Turkish alphabet: A, E, I, İ, O, Ö, U, Ü.
- There are 21 consonants in the Turkish alphabet: B, C, Ç, D, F, G, Ğ, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, R, S, Ş, T, V, Y, Z.
How to Pronounce Turkish Letters
Learning how to say each letter is key to speaking Turkish. Here's a guide to help you pronounce them, comparing them to sounds you know in English:
| Letter | English approximation |
Letter | English approximation |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A | a | As a in father | M | m | As m in man |
| B | b | As b in bat | N | n | As n in nay |
| C | c | As j in job | O | o | As o in not |
| Ç | ç | As ch in chat | Ö | ö | Like the u in fur |
| D | d | As d in dog | P | p | As p in put |
| E | e | As e in red | R | r | Like the r in rent |
| F | f | As f in far | S | s | As s in sand |
| G | g | As g in gap | Ş | ş | As sh in she |
| Ğ | ğ | This letter has no exact English sound. It often makes the previous vowel longer. | |||
| H | h | As h in hot | T | t | As t in top |
| I | ı | Like the e in open (a short, unrounded 'uh' sound) | |||
| İ | i | As i in fit | U | u | As u in put |
| J | j | As g in montage | Ü | ü | Like the u in lute |
| K | k | As c in cat | V | v | As v in valve |
| L | l | As l in let | Y | y | As y in you |
| Z | z | As z in zip | |||
History of the Turkish Alphabet
Before 1928, Turkish was written using a different alphabet called the Ottoman Turkish alphabet, which was based on the Arabic script. However, in 1928, a big change happened in Turkey.
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, who was the first president of Turkey, led a project to switch to a new, Latin-based alphabet. This change was part of his efforts to modernize Turkey and make it easier for people to read and write. He believed that the new alphabet would help more people become literate and connect Turkey with Western countries.
The new Turkish alphabet was designed to be very phonetic, meaning that each letter generally makes only one sound. This makes Turkish quite easy to learn to read once you know the sounds of its 29 letters!
Images for kids
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This image shows guides for the old Ottoman Turkish alphabet and the modern Turkish alphabet from the Republic Museum in Ankara.
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Mustafa Kemal Atatürk introducing the new Turkish alphabet to the people of Kayseri on September 20, 1928.
See also
In Spanish: Alfabeto turco para niños
