You’ve probably noticed that Turkish words sound very rhythmic.

There is a musical quality to the language.

The reason for this “music” is something called Vowel Harmony (in Turkish: Ünlü Uyumu).

For many beginners, this is quite different to what they’re used to. It’s actually the most logical part of the language.

Think of Turkish like building with Lego blocks.

You have a root word, and you add blocks (suffixes) to it to make meanings like plural, past tense, or possession. Vowel harmony is simply the rule that makes sure the blocks match the color of the root word so they fit together perfectly.

Once you understand this rule, you can guess how to say almost any word in Turkish, even if you have never heard it before.

The two groups of Turkish vowels

Before we look at the rules, we need to know our vowels.

In English, you have 5 vowels. In Turkish, we have 8.

We split these 8 vowels into two distinct teams. To be good at Turkish, you need to memorize which vowel belongs to which team.

The two teams are:

1. Back Vowels (Kalın): These are produced at the back of the throat.
2. Front Vowels (İnce): These are produced at the front of the mouth.

Here is a simple table to help you memorize them:

The Golden Rule:

Turkish words generally do not like to mix these groups. If a word starts with a Back vowel, it usually continues with Back vowels. If it starts with a Front vowel, it continues with Front vowels.

Major vowel harmony (The “A” and “E” Type)

We call this “2-way Vowel Harmony” because you only have two choices for the suffix vowel: A or E.

You use this rule for suffixes like the Plural (-lar/-ler) or “To” / Dative Case (-a/-e).

Here is the logic:

• If the last vowel of the word is Back (a, ı, o, u) -> Use A.
• If the last vowel of the word is Front (e, i, ö, ü) -> Use E.

Let’s look at the plural suffix as an example. We want to say “cars” and “cats”.

1. Car (Araba)

The last vowel in Araba is ‘a’.

‘A’ is a Back vowel (undotted).

So, we use the suffix with ‘a’ (-lar).

2. Cat (Kedi)

The last vowel in Kedi is ‘i’.

‘I’ is a Front vowel (dotted).

So, we use the suffix with ‘e’ (-ler).

Here are a few more examples to help you see the pattern:

Minor vowel harmony (The “I”, “İ”, “U”, “Ü” Type)

This is the “4-way Vowel Harmony”. It looks a bit harder because there are four choices, but it is just as logical.

We use this for suffixes like “My” (-im, -ım, -um, -üm) or the Question Particle (mi, mı, mu, mü).

Because ‘o’ and ‘ö’ never appear at the end of a suffix in Turkish, they change into ‘u’ and ‘ü’.

Here is the map for 4-way harmony:

Let’s try this with the question word “Is it…?“.

1. Is it a dog? (Köpek)

The last vowel in Köpek is ‘e’.

Looking at the chart: e goes to i.

So the question particle is mi.

2. Is it a bird? (Kuş)

The last vowel in Kuş is ‘u’.

Looking at the chart: u goes to u.

So the question particle is mu.

3. Is it hard? (Zor)

The last vowel in Zor is ‘o’.

Looking at the chart: o goes to u. (Remember, suffixes don’t end in ‘o’).

Exceptions to the rule

Turkish is very consistent, but like every language, there are exceptions.

Usually, exceptions happen because a word is borrowed from another language (like Arabic, Persian, or French), or because two words are stuck together.

1. Foreign Loanwords

Some words that come from other languages don’t follow the rules. For example, the word Saat (Clock/Hour) comes from Arabic. It looks like it should take a Back vowel, but it is soft.

(If it followed the rule, it would be Saatlar, but that sounds wrong to a Turkish ear).

2. Compound Words

When two words are combined, they keep their original vowels even if they clash.

Example: Buzdolabı (Refrigerator).

It is made of Buz (Ice) + Dolap (Cupboard).

3. Invariant Suffixes

There are a handful of suffixes that never change, no matter what vowel came before them.

• -yor (Present continuous tense): always stays -yor.
• -ken (While): always stays -ken.
• -ki (That which is): always stays -ki.

Regional variations

While the rules above are for standard Istanbul Turkish (which is what you find in books and on TV), you might hear things differently if you travel.

Turkey is a big country with many dialects.

The Black Sea Region (Karadeniz):

In the north of Turkey, people speak very fast. Sometimes, they might ignore the 4-way harmony and default to one sound to keep the speed up, or the vowels might sound slightly different. For example, a question might sound more like “mu” even when it should be “mi”.

Eastern Turkey:

In the East, the influence of Arabic and Kurdish sounds can make the vowels sound deeper or “harder” (more back vowels).

However, don’t worry about this for now.

Everyone in Turkey understands standard Turkish. Stick to the rules I wrote above, and you will be understood in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, and even the smallest village in the East.

Summary

Vowel harmony might feel like a math equation at first, but it quickly becomes a habit.

Your mouth will naturally want to follow the harmony because it is physically easier to say. It is hard to switch from a back-throat sound to a front-mouth sound instantly!

To master this:

1. Memorize the Back (a, ı, o, u) vs Front (e, i, ö, ü) chart.
2. Practice with the plural suffix (-lar/-ler) first.
3. Listen to Turkish music and try to hear the rhythm of the vowels matching.