| Turkish Letter | Turkish Word Example | English Sound Example | IPA Representation | Notes |
| A, a | “ada” (island) | ‘a’ in “father” | [a] | Open front unrounded vowel |
| B, b | “bal” (honey) | ‘b’ in “bat” | [b] | Voiced bilabial plosive |
| C, c | “can” (life) | ‘j’ in “jeans” | [d͡ʒ] | Voiced palato-alveolar affricate |
| Ç, ç | “çay” (tea) | ‘ch’ in “chat” | [t͡ʃ] | Voiceless palato-alveolar affricate |
| D, d | “dal” (branch) | ‘d’ in “dog” | [d] | Voiced dental plosive |
| E, e | “elma” (apple) | ‘e’ in “bet” | [e] | Close-mid front unrounded vowel |
| F, f | “fil” (elephant) | ‘f’ in “far” | [f] | Voiceless labiodental fricative |
| G, g | “göl” (lake) | ‘g’ in “go” | [ɡ] | Voiced velar plosive |
| Ğ, ğ | “dağ” (mountain) | — | [ː] or [ʲ] | Soft g, lengthens the preceding vowel |
| H, h | “hal” (condition) | ‘h’ in “hat” | [h] | Voiceless glottal fricative |
| I, ı | “ılık” (warm) | ‘i’ in “cousin” | [ɯ] | Close back unrounded vowel |
| İ, i | “için” (for) | ‘ee’ in “see” | [i] | Close front unrounded vowel |
| J, j | “jale” (dewdrop) | ‘s’ in “measure”* | [ʒ] | Voiced postalveolar fricative |
| K, k | “kalem” (pencil) | ‘k’ in “kite” | [k] | Voiceless velar plosive |
| L, l | “liman” (port) | ‘l’ in “lamp” | [l] | Voiced alveolar lateral approximant |
| M, m | “mum” (candle) | ‘m’ in “moon” | [m] | Voiced bilabial nasal |
| N, n | “nar” (pomegranate) | ‘n’ in “noon” | [n] | Voiced alveolar nasal |
| O, o | “okul” (school) | ‘o’ in “more” | [o] | Close-mid back rounded vowel |
| Ö, ö | “göz” (eye) | ‘i’ in “sir”* | [ø] | Close-mid front rounded vowel |
| P, p | “pul” (stamp) | ‘p’ in “pin” | [p] | Voiceless bilabial plosive |
| R, r | “rüzgar” (wind) | ‘r’ in “run”* | [ɾ] | Alveolar tap |
| S, s | “su” (water) | ‘s’ in “sun” | [s] | Voiceless alveolar sibilant |
| Ş, ş | “şans” (chance) | ‘sh’ in “show” | [ʃ] | Voiceless postalveolar fricative |
| T, t | “tuz” (salt) | ‘t’ in “top” | [t] | Voiceless dental plosive |
| U, u | “umut” (hope) | ‘oo’ in “boot” | [u] | Close back rounded vowel |
| Ü, ü | “gül” (rose) | ‘ew’ in “few”* | [y] | Close front rounded vowel |
| V, v | “var” (exist) | ‘v’ in “van”* | [v] | Voiced labiodental fricative |
| Y, y | “yıl” (year) | ‘y’ in “yes” | [j] | Palatal approximant |
| Z, z | “zaman” (time) | ‘z’ in “zoo” | [z] | Voiced alveolar sibilant |
*Some Turkish sounds are hard or impossible to reproduce in English. These English words are the closest we could get.
In German, the “w” sound (as in “Wasser”) is quite close to the Turkish “v”, as it’s pronounced more like a “v” in English but can be softer, depending on dialect, which gets it closer to the Turkish pronunciation.
Both German and French share phonetic kinship with Turkish in terms of the “ö” and “ü” sounds, albeit articulated through different alphabetic representations. In German, these sounds retain their Turkish spellings, “ö” and “ü”, found in words like “können” (to be able to) and “müde” (tired), respectively. French, on the other hand, navigates these phonetic territories with “eu” or “œu” for the “ö” sound, as heard in “peur” (fear) and “sœur” (sister), and employs “u” to convey the “ü” sound, closely matched in pronunciation in words like “lune” (moon).
