At a glance
What will be easy
After English spelling, Turkish is a relief: each letter is read the same way in almost every word. Learn the six letters English lacks (ç, ş, ğ, ı, ö, ü) and that c sounds like the j in “jam”, and you can read any word aloud.
Unlike French or Spanish, Turkish has no grammatical gender: o means he, she and it. There is no word for “the”, and bir (one) works as a light “a”: bir kahve, a coffee.
There are almost no irregular verbs: learn the endings once and they work everywhere. yapıyorum (I’m doing), yaptım (I did), yapacağım (I’ll do).
What will be hard
Where English uses several words, Turkish stacks endings: ev (house), evler (houses), evlerimiz (our houses), evlerimizde (in our houses). The key skill is splitting a word into its root and endings.
Suffixes change their vowels to match the word: evde (at home) but okulda (at school), evler but kitaplar. On top of that come vowels English lacks: ı (roughly the a in “sofa”), ö (say “e” with rounded lips) and ü (say “ee” with rounded lips).
The order is subject, object, verb: Ben çay içiyorum, literally “I tea am-drinking”. Relative clauses flip too: okuduğum kitap is “the book I read”, literally “my-read book”.
Your first 10 phrases
| Phrase | How to say it | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Merhaba! | MEHR-hah-bah | Hello! |
| Nasılsınız? | NAH-suhl-suh-nuhz | How are you? (polite) |
| Teşekkür ederim | teh-shek-KEWR eh-DEH-reem | Thank you |
| Lütfen | LEWT-fen | Please |
| Affedersiniz | ahf-feh-DEHR-see-neez | Excuse me |
| Bu ne kadar? | boo neh kah-DAHR | How much is this? |
| Tuvalet nerede? | too-vah-LET NEH-reh-deh | Where is the toilet? |
| Anlamıyorum | ahn-LAH-muh-yoh-room | I don’t understand |
| Yavaş konuşur musunuz? | yah-VAHSH koh-noo-SHOOR moo-soo-nooz | Could you speak slowly? |
| Bir çay, lütfen | beer chai, LEWT-fen | A tea, please |
From A1 to B2: what to learn at each level
- A1
The alphabet and vowel harmony, personal endings (öğrenciyim, “I’m a student”), the present tense in -iyor, var and yok (“there is” and “there isn’t”), the plural -ler/-lar and questions with mi; about 1,000 of the most common words.
- A2
The cases (eve, evde, evden, evi, evin), possessive endings (arabam, “my car”), the past tense in -di, the future in -ecek, “can” with -ebil- and the imperative.
- B1
The aorist for habits and requests (gelir misin?), the -miş past for things you heard or inferred, participles like okuduğum kitap, conditionals with -se and “must” with -meli; around 3,000 words.
- B2
Converbs (-ip, -erek, -ince, -ken), passive and causative verbs (yapıldı, yaptırdım), reported speech, idioms and fast everyday speech; 4,000 words and more.
How long it takes to learn Turkish
According to the US Foreign Service Institute (FSI), a native English speaker needs about 44 weeks of intensive study to reach professional working proficiency in Turkish. The closer a language is to your own, the faster the road.
More on timing: How long does it take to learn a language to B1 and B2?.
Your first month, 15–20 minutes a day
The alphabet, the sounds ı, ö, ü, ç, ş and your first 100 words. Every day: 10 minutes of flashcards and 5 minutes of reading aloud.
Vowel harmony with -ler/-lar and -de/-da, plus “I am” sentences: Mutluyum (I’m happy), Yorgunum (I’m tired). Start listening to short dialogues.
The present tense in -iyor: geliyorum, gidiyorum, istiyorum. Write three sentences a day about your day.
Your first A1 stories and 300 words in review. Try a five-minute conversation with a native speaker or in a chat.
Typical mistakes and how to avoid them
The verb goes at the end: Ben çay içiyorum, “I’m drinking tea”.
Suffixes follow vowel harmony: evler, okulda. After e, i, ö, ü use -ler/-de; after a, ı, o, u use -lar/-da.
Possession needs an ending: (benim) evim, (senin) evin. The ending alone is enough: evim.
Turkish has a polite “you”: siz. Use it with strangers, older people and in shops (Nasılsınız?), and keep sen for friends (Nasılsın?).
Did you know?
- In 1928 Turkey switched from the Arabic script to the Latin alphabet within a few months.
- Yogurt and kiosk are Turkish words: yoğurt, and köşk, a garden pavilion.
- In the village of Kuşköy people still talk across valleys in a whistled form of Turkish, listed by UNESCO in 2017.
How NewLexi helps you learn Turkish
- Words on your topics. Turkish cards are generated on request or added from the translator, text, a photo or a file.
- Spaced repetition for every word and four mastery levels.
- Stories and dialogues in Turkish at your level, written with your words; tap any word for a translation.
- Turkish grammar from A1 to C2, a writing trainer with AI correction and a chat.
- Lock Screen cards and iPhone widgets to review words on the go.
FAQ
Is Turkish hard for English speakers?
The FSI puts it among the “hard” languages, mostly because of the unfamiliar structure. In return, spelling and grammar are very regular, so progress is steady once the suffixes click.
How long does it take to reach B1?
Plan on roughly 500–600 hours of study, about a year and a half at an hour a day. That is noticeably more than for Spanish or Italian.
Which certificate should I take?
The main ones are the TYS (Türkçe Yeterlik Sınavı) of the Yunus Emre Institute and the TÖMER exams of Turkish universities. To study at a university in Turkish, you usually need C1.
Is Turkish related to Arabic?
No. Turkish is a Turkic language, related to Azerbaijani (its closest relative), Turkmen, Uzbek and Kazakh. It did borrow many Arabic and Persian words, such as kitap (book) and merhaba (hello).
