The Turkish alphabet is composed of 29 main sounds. Turkish speech sounds are classified into two groups such as "vowels" and "consonants".

VOWELS ( Tr. Ünlüler )

The Turkish vowels is composed of 8 sounds. These are listed below as : " a , e , ı , i , o , ö , u , ü ".

Also vowels are divided into two groups as " Back Vowels" and " Front Vowels".

Back Vowels are listed as " a , ı , o , u ". You may also call it as " undotted group + a ".

Front Vowels are listed as " e , i , ö , ü ". You may also call it as " dotted group + e ".

Some Turkish sound rules are influenced by the division of vowels into back and front vowels. You should learn that division of vowels well.

Unrounded Vowels

Unrounded vowels are the vowels which the mouth becomes unrounded and flat during the pronunciation. These are : " a , e , ı , i ".

Rounded Vowels

Rounded vowels are the vowels which the mouth becomes rounded during the pronunciation. These are : " o , ö , u , ü ".

Wide Vowels

Wide vowels are the vowels which the jaw and mouth cavity becomes wide during the pronunciation. These are : " a , e , o , ö ".

Narrow Vowels

Narrow vowels are the vowels which the jaw and mouth cavity becomes narrow during the pronunciation. These are : " ı, i , u , ü ".

CONSONANTS ( Tr. Ünsüzler )

The Turkish language has 21 consonants. These are : " b , c , ç , d , f , g , ğ , h , j , k , l , m , n , p , r , s , ş , t , v , y , z ".

Consonants are divided into two groups as " Strong Consonants" and " Soft Consonants ".

Strong consonants are listed as " ç, f , h , k , p , t , s , ş ".

Soft consonants are listed as " b , c , d , g , ğ , j , m , n , r , v , y , z ".

Some Turkish sound rules are influenced by the division of consonants into strong and soft consonants.

Vowels can be employed and form a syllable alone. However, consonants, can not be employed and form a syllable alone. They are always accompanied by a vowel. Hence 160 main syllables and sounds are produced in the Turkish language.