Turkish (Türkçe) is a Turkic language spoken primarily in Turkey and Northern Cyprus. It belongs to the Oghuz branch of the Turkic language family and has been written in the Latin script since 1928, replacing the Ottoman Turkish alphabet.
Today, Turkish is spoken by approximately 88 million native speakers and about 90 million total speakers worldwide[1]. It is the official language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus[2] and is spoken by minority communities in several Balkan countries.
The Turkish alphabet has 29 letters – 8 vowels and 21 consonants[3]. Unlike English, Turkish does not use the letters Q, W, and X. It includes unique letters like ç, ğ, ı (dotless i), ş, ö, and ü.
Below is the breakdown of all letters and characters used in Turkish.
Turkish Vowel Letters
The Turkish alphabet has 8 vowel letters: a, e, ı (dotless i), i (dotted i), o, ö, u, ü. The distinction between ı and i is unique to Turkish and crucial for correct pronunciation and spelling.
Turkish Vowels (Lowercase)
Turkish Vowels (Uppercase)
Turkish-Specific Letters
Turkish has 6 letters not found in English: ç (che), ğ (yumuşak ge), ı (dotless i), ş (şe), ö, and ü. These letters are essential for proper Turkish spelling and pronunciation. Note that Turkish does not use Q, W, or X.
Turkish-Specific Letters (Lowercase)
Turkish-Specific Letters (Uppercase)
Turkish Consonant Letters
Turkish has 21 consonant letters. The soft g (ğ) is special – it lengthens the preceding vowel and is never pronounced as a hard consonant.
Turkish consonants are generally pronounced as they are written, making Turkish spelling quite phonetic.
Turkish Consonants (Lowercase)
Turkish Consonants (Uppercase)
Special Characters in Turkish
Turkish writing uses punctuation marks and symbols including period (.), comma (,), question mark (?), exclamation (!), and quotation marks. Turkish also uses the Turkish Lira symbol (₺).
Turkish punctuation rules are similar to those used in other Latin script languages.
Digits in Turkish
Turkish uses the standard Arabic numerals 0–9, with Turkish number names: sıfır, bir, iki, üç, dört, beş, altı, yedi, sekiz, dokuz.
Like many European languages, Turkish uses a comma (,) as the decimal separator.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
References:
- [1] Turkish Language Association. "Turkish Language Statistics". Retrieved from https://tdk.gov.tr/
- [2] Turkish Constitution Article 3. "Languages of Turkey - Official Language". Retrieved from https://www.ktb.gov.tr/EN-117846/language.html
- [3] Turkish Alphabet Reform Law No. 1353. "Turkish alphabet reform". Retrieved from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkish_alphabet_reform
Sambhu Raj Singh · 
