Turkish Vowel Harmony

The Eight Vowels of Turkish

There are eight vowels in Turkish which are divided into two groups as
follows:
The A-UnDotted Vowels A I O U
The UnDotted Vowels [back vowels] are produced nearer the throat as in
English.
The E-Dotted Vowels E
The Dotted Vowels [front vowels] are produced at the the front of the
mouth as in the French Language.

The first rule of Turkish Vowel Harmony concerns the vowels A

and E
To explain Vowel Harmony we are using the Plural Suffix choosing
either -ler or -lar to mirror the final vowel of its noun all other suffixes
will follow these Vowel Harmony rules:
To form the plural we have a choice to add either -lar or -ler to the word:
Plural of the Turkish A-UnDotted Vowel Group

The plural suffix -lar to words whose final vowel is any of the AUnDotted Vowels
balta final vowel -a axe plural baltalar [balta-lar] axes
kap final vowel - door plural kaplar [kap-lar] doors
palto final vowel -o overcoat plural paltolar [palto-lar] overcoats
boncuk final vowel -u bead plural boncuklar [boncuk-lar] beads
The vowels in these Turkish words are all of the A-UnDotted Group so
the added plural suffix -larmust also contain an A-UnDotted Vowel.

Plural of the Turkish E-Dotted Vowel Group

The plural suffix -ler to words whose final vowel is one of the E-Dotted
Vowels
ev final vowel -e house plural evler [ev-ler] houses
kedi final vowel -i cat plural kediler [kedi-ler] cats
gz final vowel - eye plural gzler [gz-ler] eyes
dl final vowel - award, prize plural dller [dl-ler] awards
The vowels in these Turkish words are all of the E-Dotted Group so the
added plural suffix -lermust also contain an E-Dotted Vowel. This
echoing of the final vowel by the suffix is called Vowel Harmony.
Exceptions to Turkish Vowel harmony Rules

There are a very few exceptions to this rule where the suffix does not echo
Vowel Harmony exactly as examples:
saat hour, clock plural saatler hours, clocks
harf letter (of alphabet) plural harfler letter (of alphabet)
All exceptions to the rule of pluralizing nouns in Turkish also constitute
exceptions when other suffixes are attached to them. The
word rol rle becomes roller roles. This contrary to the general rule.
These words like rol also constitute exceptions when case suffixes are
attached, as follows:
Bu rol almak istiyorum. I want to take (on) the is rle.
Bu rolden ok bktm. I am really fed up with this rle.
Bu rolde bir sr aksaklk var. There is something wrong in this rle..
Bu role hi alamadm. I could not get used to this rle at all.
kalp heart, kalpler hearts, kalbi heart (obj.) kalbin of the heart, kalbe to
the heart, kalpten from the heart
harf Letter (alpha.), harfler Letters, harfi Letter (obj.),

harfin of the letter, harfe to the letter,harften from the letter

There are other words from Arabic or foreign imported words which
exhibit this irregularity.

Vowel Harmony of Turkish Suffixes

All words with their last vowel in the A-UnDotted Group take -lar as
their plural.
This rule applies for all suffixes which contain a.
Those words with an E-Dotted Group Vowel take -ler as their plural.
This rule applies for all suffixes which contain e.
Let us look at some common but important words which are used all the
time. These little words in, on, at, from, to, with, etc. are suffixes in
Turkish and must harmonize with final vowel of the word they modify.
The static location suffix -de/-da in, on, at
Locative suffix is -de/-da and it shows concrete place (location):
adamda [adam-da] on the man
adamlarda [adam-lar-da] on the men
kedide [kedi-de] on the cat
kedilerde [kedi-ler-de] on the cats
evde [ev-de] at home
evlerde [ev-ler-de] at the houses
kapda [kap-da] at the door
kaplarda [kap-lar-da] at/by the doors
kprde [kpr-de] on the bridge
kprlerde [kpr-ler-de] on the bridges
odada [oda-da] in the room
odalarda [oda-lar-da] in the rooms

The plural adds two suffixes -ler + -de or -lar + -da and tagged them
altogether to make one word in Turkish.
Odadaym. [oda-da-ym] I am in the room.
Ali bey, evdeymi. [ev-de-ymi] Ali bey must be at home. Bahedeki
ocuklar top ile oynuyorlar.The children (who are) in the garden are
playing with a ball.
With animate subjects the verb should be congruent with subject. If the
subject is singular, the verb is singular. If the subject is plural, the verb
plural.
ocuklar oynuyorlar. The children are playing. [subject children animate
so verb is congruent.]
For inanimate subjects, the verb should be always singular.
Yapraklar dyor. Leaves are falling. [subject leaves inanimate so verb
is singular.]
The motion away suffix -den/-dan from, by, via, through
adamdan [adam-dan] from the man
adamlardan [adamlar-da] from the men
kediden [kedi-den] from the cat
kedilerden [kediler-den] from the cats
evden [ev-den] from home
evlerden [evler-den] from the houses
kapdan [kap-dan] from the door
kaplardan [kaplar-dan] from the doors
kprden [kpr-den] from the bridge
kprlerden [kprler-den] from the bridges
odadan [oda-dan] from the room
odalardan [odalar-dan] from the rooms

The motion toward suffix -(y)e/-(y)a to, towards

adama [adam-a] to the man
adamlara [adamlar-a] to the men
kediye [kedi-ye] to the cat
kedi cat ends in a vowel so kedi-y-e is used [kedie] is incorrect.
kedilere [kediler-e] to the cats
eve [ev-e] to home
evlere [evler-e] to the houses
kapya [kap-ya] to the door
kap door ends in a vowel so kap-y-a is used [kapa] is incorrect
kaplara [kaplar-a] to the doors
Words which end in vowels
kprye [kpr-ye] to the bridge
kprlere [kpr-ler-e] to the bridges
odaya [oda-ya] to the room
odalara [oda-lar-a] to the rooms
The Buffer Letter -y- is used when the word ends in a vowel. Turkish does
not like two vowels to be together.

The second rule of Turkish Vowel Harmony concerns the

vowels I, , U,
There are two different forms of I () and U () in Turkish.
(1) The UnDotted Forms of I or U must follow the A-UnDotted group A
IOU
(2) The Dotted Forms of or must follow the E-Dotted group E
A suffix containing the letter a can have two forms either a or e. The the
suffix -den from which is used with the E-Dotted vowels and -dan which
is used with the A-UnDotted vowels was shown as an example.

Suffixes which contains the generic letter -I has four forms. These are -i -
-u -.
The suffix -im my will harmonize its own vowel to any of -i, -, -u, to
mirror the last vowel of the word it is suffixed to. All suffixes with an
internal -i- vowel will follow this vowel harmony.
Some Examples
ev house
evim [ev-im] my house
evlerim [ev-ler-im] my houses
raf shelf
rafn [raf-n] your shelf
raflarn [raf-lar-n] your shelves
it hedge
iti [it-i] his hedge
itleri [ it-ler-i] his hedges
kz girl / daughter
kzm [kz-m] my girl
kzlarm [kz-lar-m] my girls
gz eye
gzm [gz-m] my eye
gzlerim [gz-ler-im] my eyes
yol road
yolunuz [yol-unuz] your road
yollarnz [yol-lar-nz] your roads

gn day
gnmz [gn-mz ] our day
gnlerimiz [gn-ler-imiz] our days
okul school
okullar [okul-lar] their school(s)
okullar [okul-lar-] his schools
The suffix -m follows words whose last vowel is - or -
gz eye
gzm [gz-m] my eye
gzlerim [gzler-im] my eyes
gl rose
glm [gl-m] my rose
gllerim [gller-im] my roses
The plurals gzlerim and gllerim take the -im suffix [not the -m suffix
as in the singular] as they immediately follow the final vowel -e of the
plural -ler.
The suffix-um follows words whose last vowel is -o or -u.
jeton token, jeton
jetonum [jeton-um] my token, my jeton
jetonlarm [jetonlar-m] my tokens, my jetons
oyun game
oyunum [oyun-um] my game
oyunlarm [oyunlar-m] my games
The plurals jetonlarm and oyunlarm take the -m suffix [not the um suffix as in the singular] as they immediately follow the final vowel a of the plural -lar.
The Rule for Words ending in a Vowel
The Vowel of the Suffix -im my is dropped to prevent two vowels

occurring together. [the root word itself is preserved.]

baba father
babam my father [ not babam]
baban your father [not baban]
kedi cat
kedim my cat [not kediim]
kedimiz our cat [kediimiz]
palto overcoat
paltom my overcoat [not paltoum]
paltonuz your (pl.) overcoat [palto-unuz])
When adding -im my or the other Possessive Adjectives)to a word which
ends in a vowel, then we only add the shortened suffix -m, -n, -miz,
-niz etc. this prevents two vowels occurring together.
As the third person singular suffix is just a bare vowel -i, then it becomes si by using buffer letter -s- in order to keep two vowels apart and preserve
the original root word:
apka hat
apkam my hat
apkas [not apka-] his/her hat

The Complete Rules of Turkish Vowel Harmony

A E Harmony
UnDotted A I O U

are followed by

A UnDotted suffix

Dotted E

are followed by

E Dotted suffix

I U Harmony
UnDotted A or I

are followed by

I UnDotted suffix

Dotted E or

are followed by

Dotted suffix

UnDotted O or U

are followed by

U UnDotted suffix

Dotted or

are followed by

Dotted suffix