Turkish Vowel Harmony — Explained Simply

Turkish vowel harmony intimidated me at first. But once I worked through it, I found a fairly simple pattern: most suffixes change their vowels to match the last vowel before them.

However, it’s an intimidating concept for most language learners. Usually, when learning any language, I tried to avoid learning grammar right off the bat. But in Turkish, I found that learning vowel harmony is unavoidable. This is because I realised that, without understanding Turkish vowel harmony, many aspects of the language will seem more complex than they actually are.

Unfortunately, I found explanations of Turkish vowel harmony to be vague or over-simplified, so I decided to put one together based on my understanding of it.

Here it is, my guide to Turkish vowel harmony — explained simply and concisely!

What does Vowel Harmony Change?

For the Turkish language learner, the most important thing to learn is how vowel harmony changes the suffixes of Turkish words.

Turkish relies on a system of suffixes for most of its grammar. Suffixes in Turkish grammar perform a few functions, including

• Denoting plurals (the equivalent of putting an “s” or “es” on the end of most English words). For example, the plural of kedi, “cat”, is kediler.
• Expressing relationships like “with”, “at”, or “in”, often through case endings. For example, to say “at the house”, in which “house” is ev, you say evde.
• Doing some conjugations, like the infinitive form, future form, or the “can” form (e.g. “I can go”). For example, to say “I can go”, you add a suffix to the verb stem for “to go”, git-, making gidebilirim. (There is also a consonant agreement in there, changing the ‘t’ to a ‘d’.)

See more on Turkish consonant agreement here.

Without vowel harmony, the different suffix forms can look like a long list to memorise. Once you recognise the pattern, you can learn a suffix and choose its vowels as you go.

See here for other aspects of Turkish Grammar that are quite interesting.

Types of Vowel Harmony

There are two kinds of vowel harmony in Turkish: two-way, and four-way. The names refer to the number of vowel forms a suffix can take: a / e, or ı / i / u / ü.

Turkish has eight vowels: a, ı, o, u, e, i, ö, and ü.

These vowels are grouped two different ways:

1. Front vowels and back vowels: This defines where they come from inside the mouth.
2. Rounded vowels and unrounded vowels. This is the shape your mouth makes to make each vowel.

Together, you can group Turkish vowels like this:

Vowel classification	Front	Back
Rounded	ö, ü	o, u
Unrounded	e, i	a, ı

Try making these sounds and notice where your tongue sits and whether your lips round. Dotless ı and dotted i are different vowels, not two spellings of the same sound. Compare kır (“countryside”) with kir (“dirt”). Their uppercase forms are I and İ.

For most suffixes, you choose a front or back vowel to match the preceding vowel. Four-way suffixes also match whether that vowel is rounded.

Many Turkish roots contain only front vowels or only back vowels, though there are exceptions. Rounding doesn’t mean every vowel stays rounded: after a rounded vowel, an a / e suffix is still unrounded. For example, göz (“eye”) becomes gözler (“eyes”).

Consider these simple Turkish words you’re likely to learn in your first 100 or so words:

Phrase	Translation	Vowel Description
Affedersiniz	“Excuse me”	Just front vowels, unrounded
Üzgünüm	“Sorry”	Just front vowels, rounded
Anlamıyorum	“I don’t understand”	Just back vowels
Görüşürüz	“See you”	Just front vowels, rounded
Özür dilerim	“I’m sorry”	First word: front rounded, Second word: front unrounded

With time and practice, you’ll develop an intuition for how Turkish words should sound, and vowel harmony will become second nature.

Two-Way Vowel Harmony (Type 1 / e-type)

The first kind of vowel harmony, called “two-way vowel harmony” (or “simple” or “e-type vowel harmony”) has two forms: a or e.

For a regular harmonising suffix, look at the last vowel immediately before it. For a verb, remove the infinitive ending -mak / -mek first: the stem of düşünmek is düşün-, so its last vowel is ü, not the e in -mek. If you’ve already added a suffix, its vowel can determine the next suffix.

Here’s the rule:

Last vowel before suffix is…	Form of suffix to use	Class of vowel
e, i, ö, or ü	e	“Front”
a, ı, o, or u	a	“Back”

You don’t really need to worry about “front” or “back”, which is why I put it in the last column. The most important thing is to look at the last vowel before the suffix, and to use the appropriate kind of suffix afterwards.

For example, the word ev (“house”) has an “e” as its final vowel. So to say “at the house”, you match it with evde.

Similarly, the word hamam (“bathhouse”) has an “a” as its final vowel. So to say “at the bathhouse” you say hamamda.

So, what kinds of suffixes are used in two-way vowel harmony? Here are the most common two-way suffixes:

Suffix	Meaning
-lar / -ler	Plurals
-da / -de / -ta / -te	“at”, “in”, “on” (locative case)
-(y)abil / -(y)ebil	“can”
-mak / -mek	Infinitive form of verb
-(y)acak / -(y)ecek	Future tense
-(y)la / -(y)le	“with” (attached form of ile)
-ma / -me	Verb negation

The plural suffix comes up every day. Teşekkür means “thanks” or “gratitude”; Teşekkürler is the everyday expression “Thanks!” The ending is -ler because the last vowel in teşekkür is ü.

Parentheses mark a buffer y used after a vowel. The locative ending also changes d to t after a voiceless consonant; vowel harmony still chooses a or e. Here are some examples:

Word or stem (meaning)	Vowel → suffix form	Turkish example	English
Ev (house)	e → e-form	Evler Evde	Houses At the house
Nar (pomegranate)	a → a-form	Narla Narlar	With pomegranate Pomegranates
Şehir (city)	i → e-form	Şehirler Şehirde	Cities In the city
Dondurma (ice cream)	a → a-form	Dondurmayla Dondurmalar	With ice cream Ice creams
Git- (go)	i → e-form	Gitmek Gidebilirim	To go I am able to go
Çalış- (work)	ı → a-form	Çalışmak Çalışabilirim	To work I am able to work

The t in git- becomes d in gidebilirim, and dondurmayla includes a buffer y. These are separate from choosing the suffix vowel.

Four-way Vowel Harmony (Type 2 / i-type)

Four-way vowel harmony matches both front/back position and lip rounding. The suffix vowel is always one of ı, i, u, ü.

Last vowel before suffix is…	Form of suffix to use	Class of vowel
a or ı	ı	Back unrounded
e or i	i	Front unrounded
o or u	u	Back rounded
ö or ü	ü	Front rounded

As with two-way harmony, use the last vowel before each suffix, including vowels in any suffixes you’ve already added.

If the last vowel is already ı, i, u, or ü, a four-way suffix repeats it. For a, e, o, and ö, use ı, i, u, and ü respectively.

Here are some of the most common 4-way harmony suffixes. You get the hang of this pretty fast as they’re so common.

Suffix	Meaning
-ıyor / -iyor / -uyor / -üyor	Present continuous: only the initial vowel changes; -yor stays fixed
-ı / -i / -u / -ü	Specific direct object (accusative); adds y after a vowel-ending bare noun
mı / mi / mu / mü	Yes/no question particle; written separately
-(ı)m / -(i)m / -(u)m / -(ü)m -(ı)n / -(i)n / -(u)n / -(ü)n	Possessive “my”, “your”; the parenthesised vowel drops after a vowel
-lı / -li / -lu / -lü	Having or containing (e.g. an ingredient)
-sız / -siz / -suz / -süz	Without

The question particle follows harmony even though you write it as a separate word: Güzel mi? (“Is it nice?”). It doesn’t negate a verb; verb negation normally uses -ma / -me. The Turkish Language Association (TDK) explains its spelling here.

Here are some examples of four-way vowel harmony:

Word or stem (meaning)	Vowel → suffix form	Turkish example	English
Et (meat)	e → i-form	Etli pilav	Rice with meat
Süt (milk)	ü → ü-form	Sütlü kahve	Coffee with milk
Mümkün (possible)	ü → ü-form	Mümkün mü?	Is it possible?
Tatlı (sweet)	ı → ı-form	Tatlı mı?	Is it sweet?
Anla- (understand; infinitive: anlamak)	a → ı-form	Anlamıyorum	I don’t understand
Düşün- (think; infinitive: düşünmek)	ü → ü-form	Öyle düşünmüyorum	I don’t think so
Yağ (fat)	a → ı-form	Yağsız	Fat-free
Şeker (sugar)	e → i-form	Şekersiz	Sugar-free
Oğul (son)	u → u-form	Oğlum	My son
Karpuz (watermelon)	u → u-form	Karpuzu yedim	I ate the watermelon
Simit (sesame bread ring)	i → i-form	Simiti yedim	I ate the simit
Elma (apple)	a → ı-form	Elmayı yedim.	I ate the apple

Apply harmony one suffix at a time. Göl (“lake”) becomes göller (“lakes”), then göllerim (“my lakes”): göl + ler + im. The plural adds e, so the next suffix takes i, even though the root contains ö.

A few examples above involve other sound changes. Before -yor, final a / e narrows to ı / i / u / ü. That also happens to the negative ending: anla + ma + yor + um gives anlamıyorum, and düşün + me + yor + um gives düşünmüyorum. The final -um follows the fixed o in -yor. See TDK’s explanation of vowel narrowing.

In oğul → oğlum (“son” → “my son”), the root loses its second u before the vowel-starting suffix -um. This is a separate vowel-drop rule. For regular vowel-ending nouns, “my” and “your” add -m and -n: arabam (“my car”), araban (“your car”).

Common Exceptions to Vowel Harmony

Some roots mix front and back vowels. For example, elma (“apple”) contains e and a, but its plural is elmalar because the last vowel is a. Borrowed words and compounds often mix vowel groups, too. Most still choose suffixes by the last vowel.

Some borrowed words take front-vowel suffixes despite a final back vowel: saatler (“hours” or “clocks”) and alkollü (“alcoholic” or “containing alcohol”). Learn these with an example ending. TDK lists these exceptions in its guides to front/back harmony and rounding harmony.

Some suffixes keep a fixed vowel. The o in -yor never changes, and -ken stays the same in çalışırken (“while working”). The suffix -ki usually stays fixed, as in akşamki (“the one from the evening”), with a few forms such as bugünkü (“today’s”) taking -kü.

Vowel Harmony in Practice

All of that might seem like a crazy mess of rules. How are people supposed to function in reality? Do people walk around with grids of rules in their heads?

Of course they don’t. Even as a relatively early learner, I’ve found that common word-and-suffix combinations start to sound natural.

I sometimes like sugar-free soda, so I learned şekersiz early. The i ending feels familiar because I hear and use the whole word.

Similarly, at the local diner, there’s a menu classifying dishes by the base: chicken, meat (e.g. lamb / beef), or vegetables. These are foods that are described as tavuklu (with chicken), etli (with meat) or sebzeli (with vegetables). These pairings are so common that they just become natural.

Try saying the examples aloud, then swap in another word using the same ending. That’s how the table starts turning into something you can use in conversation.