L'interface est traduite, mais les explications de cette page sont encore rédigées en anglais — le texte pédagogique n'a pas encore été traduit.
Turc : orthographe → son
Turkish spelling is the youngest on the site after Malay and the most deliberate: in 1928 the Arabic script was replaced overnight by a Latin alphabet designed for this language, so one letter is one sound almost without exception. The new letters are the whole lesson — ç /t͡ʃ/, ş /ʃ/, c /d͡ʒ/ (cam is 'jam'), j /ʒ/, y /j/, ı /ɯ/ (an i said with the lips spread and the tongue pulled back), ö /ø/ and ü /y/ as in German. The one letter that is not a sound is ğ, the 'soft g': it lengthens the vowel before it (dağ 'mountain' is daː), turns into a y between front vowels (değil), and disappears between back ones (soğuk). The eight vowels split front/back and rounded/unrounded, and VOWEL HARMONY makes every suffix copy the vowels of the root — ev-ler 'houses' but at-lar 'horses' — so the sound system is also the grammar. k and g are said further forward next to a front vowel (kedi, göz) and further back beside a back vowel (kara, gol). Stress normally falls on the last syllable, and moves as suffixes are added; the exceptions — place names (ˈAnkara, İsˈtanbul), many adverbs (ˈşimdi, ˈyarın) and the negative -me- — are where learners are caught. The tracer does not mark stress.
Suivre un mot
Chaque case est une règle qui se déclenche. Survolez une case (ou ouvrez le tableau) pour voir pourquoi. Les règles s'appliquent dans l'ordre, la première qui correspond gagne — et cet ordre est le système orthographique. Type it as written, with ç ğ ı ö ş ü (kahvaltı, değil). One letter, one sound — except ğ, which mostly lengthens the vowel before it.
Consonnes et semi-voyelles
| IPA | Spelled | Example |
|---|---|---|
| p | p | pul pul stamp |
| b | b | balık baˈlɯk fish — At the end of a word Turkish writes the devoicing it hears: kitap, but kitabı 'the book' when a vowel follows. |
| t | t | tuz tuz salt — Lightly aspirated at the start of a word, more than in French, less than in English. |
| d | d | deniz deˈniz sea |
| k | k (beside a, ı, o, u) | kara kaˈɾa land / black |
| c | k (before e, i, ö, ü, and â) | kedi ceˈdi cat — The same letter k, said with the tongue on the hard palate: a faint y glides into the vowel. Before â it is the only thing that tells kâr 'profit' from kar 'snow'. |
| ɡ | g (beside a, ı, o, u) | gol ɡol goal |
| ɟ | g (before e, i, ö, ü, and â) | göz ɟøz eye — The voiced partner of the palatal k. rüzgâr 'wind' keeps it before an a, and the circumflex is there to say so. |
| f | f | fırın fɯˈɾɯn oven / bakery |
| v | v | ev ev house — Between vowels and beside u/ü it softens towards a w: tavuk 'chicken'. |
| s | s | su su water |
| z | z | yüz jyz face / hundred |
| ʃ | ş | şeker ʃeˈceɾ sugar — The cedilla letter. Hindi श and Russian ш are the same sound. |
| ʒ | j | jandarma ʒanˈdaɾma gendarmerie — Only in loans, mostly French and Persian: garaj, plaj, müjde. A French reader already says it. |
| h | h | hava haˈva air / weather — Always said, even at the end of a word (Allah, sabah) — the Arabic and Persian loans keep it. |
| t͡ʃ | ç | çay t͡ʃaj tea |
| d͡ʒ | c | cami d͡ʒaːˈmi mosque — THE trap for a French or English reader: Turkish c is always j as in 'jam'. ceket = 'jacket', almost spelled phonetically. |
| m | m | meyve mejˈve fruit |
| n | n | ne ne what |
| ŋ | n (before k, g) | renk ɾeŋk colour — Not a letter of its own any more — Ottoman script had one (ڭ), and some dialects still keep the sound between vowels. |
| l | l | dil dil tongue / language — Light beside front vowels (dil, gel), dark beside back ones (kol, yol) — the same split as k and g. |
| ɾ | r | araba aɾaˈba car — A tap. At the end of a word it is often devoiced into a faint hiss: bir 'one', var 'there is'. |
| j | y, ğ (between front vowels) | yol jol road — The letter y = IPA /j/. ğ joins it between front vowels: değil 'not' is deˈjil. |
Voyelles
| IPA | Spelled | Example |
|---|---|---|
| a | a, â | anne anˈne mother |
| e | e | el el hand — Many speakers open it towards /æ/ before l, m, n, r at the end of a syllable: gel, ben. |
| i | i, î | iki iˈci two — Dotted, and its capital keeps the dot: İ. İstanbul is spelled with it. |
| ɯ | ı | kız kɯz girl — Undotted, and its capital has no dot either: I. Say i, keep the lips spread, pull the tongue back — the Korean ㅡ and the Japanese u are close neighbours. |
| o | o | okul oˈkul school — In native words o and ö appear only in the first syllable — suffixes never contain them, apart from -iyor. |
| ø | ö | göl ɟøl lake — German ö, French eu in deux. |
| u | u, û | kuş kuʃ bird |
| y | ü | gül ɟyl rose — German ü, French u in tu. |
Les règles, dans l'ordre
32 règles. La colonne de gauche est un motif (expression régulière) testé à la position courante dans le mot ; (?=…) regarde devant, (?<=…) regarde derrière, $ est la fin du mot.
| # | Pattern | Sound | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (?<=[eiöü])ğ(?=[eiöü]) | ğ between front vowels is a y (değil) | |
| 2 | (?<=a)ğa|(?<=ı)ğı|(?<=o)ğo|(?<=u)ğu | ğ between two identical vowels: they merge into one long vowel (ağaç → aaç) | |
| 3 | ğ(?![aeıioöuüâîû]) | ğ before a consonant or at the end lengthens the vowel before it (dağ, doğru) | |
| 4 | ğ | ğ between back vowels is silent — the two vowels run together (soğuk) | |
| 5 | ck(?=[eiöüîâû]) | ck (English loans) before a front vowel: one palatal k | |
| 6 | ck | ck (English loans): one k | |
| 7 | w | w is not a Turkish letter: loans say it as v (low → lov) | |
| 8 | x | x is not a Turkish letter: written ks in Turkish spelling (taksi) | |
| 9 | q | q is not a Turkish letter: said k | |
| 10 | [?!.,] | punctuation | |
| 11 | k(?=k?[eiöüîâû]) | k before a front vowel is made on the hard palate (kedi) | |
| 12 | g(?=g?[eiöüîâû]) | g before a front vowel is made on the hard palate (göz) | |
| 13 | g | ||
| 14 | n(?=[kg](?![eiöüîâû])) | n before a back k or g becomes ng (renk, banka) | |
| 15 | aa | a doubled vowel in an Arabic loan is one long vowel (saat, kanaat) | |
| 16 | ii | a doubled vowel in an Arabic loan is one long vowel (tabii) | |
| 17 | ee | a doubled vowel in a loan is one long vowel | |
| 18 | uu | a doubled vowel in a loan is one long vowel | |
| 19 | c | c is always j as in jam | |
| 20 | ç | ç = ch | |
| 21 | ş | ş = sh | |
| 22 | j | j = the s in measure (French loans) | |
| 23 | y | y = IPA /j/ | |
| 24 | r | r is a tap | |
| 25 | ı | undotted ı: i with the tongue pulled back | |
| 26 | ö | ||
| 27 | ü | ü = IPA /y/ | |
| 28 | â | â: an a that keeps the k, g or l before it soft (kâr) | |
| 29 | î | ||
| 30 | û | ||
| 31 | [aeiou] | ||
| 32 | [pbtdkfvszhmnl] |