I can name an Azerbaijani letter the way it's said when spelling a word aloud, tell ə from e, ı from i, ö from o, and ü from u by ear, and type any word even without an Azerbaijani keyboard.
32 letters and nine vowels
32 letters and nine vowels
The alphabet has 32 Latin letters, used since 1991; before that it was Cyrillic, still seen on some old shop signs. Letter names, for spelling aloud: a vowel is named by its sound, a consonant adds ə — “bə”, “qə”. The chart with audio is below.
There are nine vowels. Back vowels: a, ı, o, u; front vowels: e, ə, i, ö, ü. Rounded (lips rounded): o, u, ö, ü. Lesson 3 needs these groups: an ending matches the word's vowel (see the table).
ə is a letter and a sound of its own: the a of American “cat” — mən (I), ət (meat). The letter a is the a of “father”, never the a of “cat”: alma (apple). e is the e of “bed”: yeni (new). ə and e tell words apart: ət is “meat”, et is “do it!”.
ı is “oo” said with the lips spread flat: qız (girl). It's a letter of its own, not i without a dot; i is the ee of “see”: iş (work).
ö: say the e of “bed” with the lips rounded as for o — göz (eye). ü: say “ee” with the lips rounded as for “oo” — üzüm (grapes).
Unstressed vowels keep their full sound: o is always [o], never “uh” or the “oh-w” of “go” — otaq (room). Only Russian loans like Moskva (Moscow) say an o before the stress as a.
The capital of i has a dot: İ; the capital of ı has none: I.
Common mistakes:
• NOT ə as e — ət and et sound different.
• NOT o as the “oh-w” of “go” — otaq starts with a pure o.
• NOT ı as i — qız has no “ee”.
Nine vowels
Vowels of one row belong together: in lesson 3 an ending will match the last vowel of the word, back or front.
| Back or front | Unrounded | Rounded |
|---|---|---|
| back | a — alma (apple) · ı — qız (girl) | o — otaq (room) · u — uşaq (child) |
| front | e — yeni (new) · ə — ət (meat) · i — iş (work) | ö — göz (eye) · ü — üzüm (grapes) |
Lesson notes
32 letters and nine vowels
The alphabet has 32 Latin letters, used since 1991; before that it was Cyrillic, still seen on some old shop signs. Letter names, for spelling aloud: a vowel is named by its sound, a consonant adds ə — “bə”, “qə”. The chart with audio is below.
There are nine vowels. Back vowels: a, ı, o, u; front vowels: e, ə, i, ö, ü. Rounded (lips rounded): o, u, ö, ü. Lesson 3 needs these groups: an ending matches the word's vowel (see the table).
ə is a letter and a sound of its own: the a of American “cat” — mən (I), ət (meat). The letter a is the a of “father”, never the a of “cat”: alma (apple). e is the e of “bed”: yeni (new). ə and e tell words apart: ət is “meat”, et is “do it!”.
ı is “oo” said with the lips spread flat: qız (girl). It's a letter of its own, not i without a dot; i is the ee of “see”: iş (work).
ö: say the e of “bed” with the lips rounded as for o — göz (eye). ü: say “ee” with the lips rounded as for “oo” — üzüm (grapes).
Unstressed vowels keep their full sound: o is always [o], never “uh” or the “oh-w” of “go” — otaq (room). Only Russian loans like Moskva (Moscow) say an o before the stress as a.
The capital of i has a dot: İ; the capital of ı has none: I.
Common mistakes:
• NOT ə as e — ət and et sound different.
• NOT o as the “oh-w” of “go” — otaq starts with a pure o.
• NOT ı as i — qız has no “ee”.
How to type ə, ı, ğ, ö, ü, ş, ç without an Azerbaijani keyboard
You add the Azerbaijani keyboard once — the paths for phones and computers are in the table. Then all 32 letters are on your keyboard.
Without it, you can type the special letters as plain ones: ə → e, ı → i, ğ → g, ö → o, ü → u, ş → s, ç → c. The answer still counts, and the answer key shows the right spelling: learn that one.
But ə is not a: “Tasakkur” for “Təşəkkür” is a mistake. And q is not k, x is not h: the checker tells those apart.
Words that differ only in a special letter (ət — et) are checked by choice, not in writing.