The Turkish Language

Turkish is the main language of Turkey, a country in both Europe and Asia. About 80 million people speak Turkish. It is also spoken in parts of Cyprus and other countries. Turkish uses the same Roman letters as English, with a few extra ones. The language has a long and interesting history.

A New Alphabet

For a long time, Turkish was written with Arabic letters. In 1928, the leader of Turkey changed the writing system. His name was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk. He wanted Turkey to use the Roman alphabet like many European countries. Today, Turkish has 29 letters in its alphabet.

How Turkish Sounds

Turkish has a rule called vowel harmony. This means vowels in a word must match each other. Turkish also adds lots of endings to words. One Turkish word can mean a whole sentence in English. For example, a single long word can mean 'I am not from that family.'

Fun Facts

• Turkish has extra letters like ş, ç, ğ, and ü.
• Turkish does not use the letters q, w, or x.
• The Turkish word 'yogurt' is now used in English too.

Did You Know?

Turkish is part of a language family that reaches all the way from Turkey to Central Asia. Many people in places like Kazakhstan speak similar languages.