Turkish Phrasebook

Turkish Phrasebook

English	Turkish	Pronounced
Useful
Yes No Thank you Hello Goodbye Morning Afternoon Evening Where? Why? When? What? Please Excuse me I don't understand Do you speak English	Evet Hayir Tesekkür ederim Merhaba Hosça kalin Sabah Ögleden sonra Aksam Nerede? Niçin? Ne zaman Ne? Lütfen Affedersiniz Anlamiyorum Ingilizce konusmasini biliyor musunuz?	eh-vet h-eye-uhr teh-shek-kewr eh-deh-reem mer-ha-ba hosh-cha ka-luhn sa-bah ur-leh-den son-ra ak-sham neh-reh-deh neh-den neh za-man neh lewt-fen af-feh-der-see-neez an-la-muh-yo-room een-gee-leez-jeh bee-lee-yor moo-soo -nooz?
Transport
taxi station bus/coach airport ferry ticket timetable ticket office fare bus stop	taksi istasyon otobus havalimani vapur bilet tarife bilet gisesi bilet ücreti otobüs duragi	tak-see ees-tas-yon o-to-bewss ha-va-lee-ma-nuh va-poor bee-let ta-ree-feh bee-let gee-shsh-see ewj-ret o-to-bewss doo-ra-uh
Emergency
Help Fire Call the police Call an ambulance Call a doctor Stop Where is the nearest hospital?	Imdat Yangin Polisi çargin! Bir ambülans çargin! Bir doktoru çargin! Dur En yakin hastane nerede?	eem-dat yan-guhn po-lees chah-ruhn beer am-boo-lans chah-ruhn beer dok-tor chah-ruhn door en ya-kuhn has-ta-neh neh-reh-deh

Pronunciation
Once you learn a few basic rules, you'll find Turkish pronunciation quite simple to master. Despite oddities such as the soft 'g' (g) and the undotted 'i' (I), it's a phonetically consistent language - there's generally a clear one-letter/one-sound relationship.

It's important to remember that each letter is pronounced; vowels don't combine to form diphthongs and constants don't combine to form other sounds (such as 'th', 'gh' or 'sh' in English). Watch out for this. Your eye will keep seeing familiar English double-letter sounds in Turkish - where they don't exist. It therefore follows that h in Turkish is always pronounced as a separate letter; in English, we're used to pronouncing it only when it occurs before a vowel, but in Turkish it can appear in the middle or at the end of a word as well. Always pronounce it; your Turkish friend Ahmet is ahh-met' not 'aa-meht', and the word rehber (guide) is pronounced 'rehh-behr' no 're-behr'.

A, a	As in 'art' or 'bar'
â	A faint 'y' sound in the preceding consonant
E, e	As in 'fell' or as the first vowel in 'ever'
I, i	A short 'i'. As in 'hit' or 'sit'
I, I	A neutral vowel; as the 'a' in 'ago'
O, o	Between the 'o' in 'hot' and the 'aw' in 'awe'
Ö, ö	As the 'e' in 'her' said with purse lips
U,u	As the 'oo' in 'moo'
U, ü	An exaggerated rounded-lip 'yoo'
C, c	As the 'j' in 'jet'
Ç, ç	As the 'ch' in 'church'
G, g	Always hard as in 'get' (not as in 'gentle')
H, h	Always pronounced; a weak 'h' as in 'half'
J, j	As the 'z' in azure
S, s	Always as in stress (not as in 'ease')
S, s	As the 'sh' in 'show'
V, v	Soft, almost like a 'w'
W, w	Same as Turkish 'v' (only found in foreign words)