Lesson 2. Tricky consonants: c, ç, ş, j, y, h, and ğ

The letters c, j, and y are in the English alphabet, but c and j are read differently; ç and ş are new letters. The mistake here is a reading mistake: the sounds themselves are easy; it's the letters that differ from English. c is the j of “jam”, everywhere in the word: cami, gece, pencere. Never the k of “cat” or the s of “city”. And g is always the g of “go”, also before e and i: gece, gün. ç is the ch of “church”: çay, çocuk, üç. ş is the sh of “shoe”: şeker, beş, kış. One letter each, where English writes two. j is the s of “measure”, never the j of “jam” (that sound is written c). It's a rare letter, found in words from other languages: garaj, plaj. y is the y of “yes”, always a consonant: yok, yaz, ayak. After a vowel it makes a glide: çay rhymes with “eye”, and the ey of meyve sounds like the ay of “day”. Common mistakes: • NOT c as in English “cat” or “city” — cami starts with the j of “jam”. • NOT j as the j of “jam” — that sound is written c, and j is the s of “measure”. • NOT y as a vowel (as in “my”) — y is always the y of “yes”.

h is the h of “hat”, and it is always said: at the start of a word (hava), after a consonant (merhaba), before a consonant (kahve, bahçe), and at the end (sabah, tarih). English often drops an h after a vowel; Turkish never does. ğ is yumuşak ge, “soft g”. It has almost no sound of its own and is never read as the g of “go”. After a vowel, before a consonant, it makes the vowel long: yağmur, öğrenci. Between vowels it is almost silent: soğuk. Next to e and i it can sound like a light y: değil. No Turkish word starts with ğ. Both letters are easy to lose in writing: you don't hear ğ, and h is easy to skip. Write the word as you saw it. The checker accepts g for ğ, but h for ğ, or a missing letter, is a mistake. Learn to recognize two more shades by ear; you don't have to say them. v is softer than English v, sometimes close to w: meyve, kahve. r at the end of a word is softer and partly whispered: doktor, şoför. Both letters are always written. Common mistakes: • NOT the g of “go” for ğ — soğuk has no g sound. • NOT kave — the h in kahve is written and heard.

You'll recognize many words by ear: chai, chauffeur, museum, bus (autobus), radio, chocolate. But they are written in Turkish letters, the way they sound in Turkish: çay, şoför, müze, otobüs (see the table). Don't carry the English spelling over: no u in otobüs, no x in taksi, no ss in pasaport, banka ends in a, radyo has y, ceket starts with c. The little tail under a letter (a cedilla) changes the word just as the dot does: su — water, şu — that one over there; saç — hair, sac — sheet metal (see the table of pairs). Pairs like these are checked by choice. Remember: the checker accepts c for ç, s for ş, and g for ğ, and the answer key shows the right spelling. A different letter — j for c, y for ğ — is a mistake. Common mistakes: • NOT autobus — in Turkish, otobüs. • NOT museum — in Turkish, müze. • NOT bank — in Turkish, banka.