Lesson Transcript

Hello, merhaba. Ben Seda. Welcome to TurkishClass101.com. Today we'll talk about how to pronounce Turkish consonants. As you know, there are 29 Turkish letters in the Turkish alphabet and eight of them are vowels and the rest of them, 21 of them, are consonants. And in Turkish, there are two separate groups of consonants. One group is hard consonants and the other is soft consonants.
It's not our main subject for today, the hard consonants or consonants and the rules about them, but I just want to make a quick note for you so you can try to listen why we are saying that these are hard or these are soft consonants in Turkish. Maybe you know it, but we use a lot of suffixes to make everything actually, the words, the verbs, or whatever you want to make, you have to add a prefix or suffix. So the rules about how to add them, we have different rules for vowels and different rules for consonants. And for consonants, we have these hard consonants and they get softened and the consonant mutation happens. So you need to know which ones are which.
So I have, actually we had this when I was in primary school. “Fıstıkçı şahap” This doesn't actually mean anything, but these two words have all the hard consonants in it. That's how we memorized them when we were kids. So as you can notice that we had to learn them as well as native speakers. But fıştıkçı şahap was a way of memorizing them. Let me just check and tell which ones are the hard consonants to you so I don't miss anything. So I will probably put them here somewhere. “Ç,f, h,k,p,s,ş,t” So I just made the sounds, I didn't read the letters. If I read the letters... “Ç,f, h,k,p,s,ş,t” as in fıstıkçı şahap .So the rest of the letters are the soft consonants.
So for example, why I'm talking about this. For example, we have a word 'kitap'. 'Kitap' means book. So it's okay, it ends with 'p' which is a hard consonant. So if I want to add something to that word, for example, if I want to make 'my book', so I will add 'ım' for that. So if I add 'ım' to 'kitap', it makes 'kitapım'. It's really unnatural, it's really hard for me to pronounce that as a native speaker. I think that's why we have this consonant mutation rules to make it easier to pronounce. So instead of “kitapım” 'p', 'p' changes into 'b'. So I say “kitabım” This is not just for saying, I also write 'kitabım'. As I said before, this is a different rule, it's not about pronunciation, but this is why you need to know there are two different types of consonants in Turkish which this makes the basis of learning how to add things. So keep that in mind and keep “fıstıkçı şahap” in your mind.
So you can remember, other than that, let's try to pronounce it. Okay, so we'll start with 'b'. It’s on the lips. “Baba, bakkal”, bak”
Okay, and let's continue with “c” “ceket, cami cadde”
It's 'c'. 'C' is very different than English, the sound. The 'c' sound, we use it as 'j'. It's like in English, 'jacket' and 'c' is the same thing. And it's the letter 'j'. I think the sound of letter 'j' in English, it's the sound of letter 'c' in Turkish. So c. Okay let me check because I'm sticking the vowels so I have to check so I don't miss any consonants.
“Ç” Yeah, this is a sound, this is a letter that most of the languages don't have in their alphabet so it might be different but it is, if you think about in English, it's a bit like 'c' and 'h' together. So… it probably makes the same sound. So it's, “ç” “çarşı, çorap, çamaşır” So that was it. So for the letter d, “daire, davet,devlet, deve”
So let's continue with the letter 'f'. It's really on the lips. If I put a paper here, let's try with this for example, it moves the leaves. Okay, so yeah, don't spit but make some breath come on. 'Fiyat'. 'Fare'. I'm not giving you the translation of these words. This is just, I want you to focus on the pronunciation, not the meanings. But the finding of the meaning will be your homework. Okay, you need to go and if you don't know some of these words, you need to check them out. I will write every word here so you can see how they are written. So it will be homework for you.
Okay, let's continue. Now the letter is 'g'. This is again a little bit different than English. It's from here, it's in the throat. “Gaye, gayret”, let me check “güzel, gamze” Ok! And the weird letter, the soft 'g', we call it “yumuşak g”. We can't just make the song. It's, we don't have just a short name for it. It's, yumuşak g it's like soft 'g'. And the sound is like “ıııghhhh”, it's really funny when I make it but it's like.... It's like a ghost voice. It's on the throat but it's not like,”hhhhhh” it's just, it's like you're hurting somewhere when you read it. It's generally there, there should be a vowel in front of it and after it. So it's like you're making the sound of those vowels a little bit longer. For example, “ağaç” and and a note: there is no word in Turkish that starts with soft 'g'. It's just in the middle. Okay, so there's because we can't just start with, it's really hard.
Okay, let me get it, sip of my tea before I make the sound. 'Ağaç'. Normally it's a soft 'g', 'a' and 'uh'. The 'uh', 'ç'. There's no word for in English. So 'ah', it's like 'aaaaç'. Okay, let me see another example. “Yağmur” Normally it's like double 'a' here. Yaamur, but it's, “yağmur” or “yağ” let me see “ağrı”. Try to make that sound and the people will be looking at you.
Okay, so the next letter is 'h'. Turkish is not a very throaty language. Normally the Istanbul Turkish especially, it's not, yes, the letter 'h', it's coming from the throat but it's a very soft throat move. It is “h” It's nothing like that. But don't forget we have different dialects in Turkish. Especially the eastern part of Turkey and the Kurdish, the south eastern part of Turkey, their dialects are more like Arabic. So it's more coming from the throat. So if you're visiting Turkey, for example, if you're going to Mardin or Diyarbakır or Urfa, there, some of their letters will sound different to you. So don't worry, it's normal. It's, you know, in every language there are different dialects. So but normally in Turkish, the sounds of 'k' and 'h'are not very strong, not very throaty.
Okay, so let me check our letter. Yeah, “halı, hala, or hasta”
I'm giving you some tips about the meanings. Okay, “hhh” don't forget.
So the next one is 'j'. 'J', 'j'. This sound is, we don't have a lot of words with this sound. Of course, we have, but it's not very, not very common in Turkish. This is one of the less used letters. So, but we use it anyway.... Do you see my 'jjjjjj'?... It is like a mosquito, it is “jale, jöle” or 'jargon'. These, the letters with 'j' at this 'j', generally come from other languages. They are generally foreign letters. So you can keep that in mind.
So let's continue. Now the letter is 'k'. It's on throat but not very strong. “Kaza, kalp,
Or people are doing something like that. I don't know, is this the heart something? I don't know. I know this heart.”kalp” or “kart” “ “kkkk. “Kaza, kalp, kart”” As I told you before, in some parts of Turkey, it can be, “kalp”. But that's not the, you know, the Istanbul Turkish. But just, know, there are different dialects. So don't be confused. But normally, when you're learning, try to say not so throaty. “Kalp, kaza”...
Okay, now 'l'. 'La', 'la', 'la', 'la', 'la', 'la', 'la'. This is, I think, a very generic sound with your tongue. “Limon, lale” And that's it. I don't have any other examples here.
Okay, the next sound is “m” very on the lips. “Masa, mimoza, masal,” Ok? And the next one is, “n” “nane, niye, neden, niçin, nasıl, nereye,” “n”, okay. All the questions in the world.
Okay, the next one is “p” again very on the lips. “Para, pırasa, parti”
And the next one is, the next one is 's'. “Seda, sema, ses”
The next one is “ş” This is again a very Turkish sound. The letter, the shape of the letter with the dot, 's' with the dot. 'ş'. “Şahaser, şahane, şans”
Okay, the next one is, “t” “tabak, tarak, ters, tencere”
okay, the last three one is “v”, “valiz, vaka, vakit” and the last one is “y”, “yıldız, yakın, yalnız”. And the last of is 'z' letter z. “Zaman, zaten, zarf”.
Okay, guys. Okay, guys. Before I go, I want to give you a small trick. We have a rule called 'ulama'. There is no exact English word for it but it means that you add the last letter of a verb to the first one following it. So the reason is for that, that we like equal number of vowels and consonants in one word. For example, 'masa' is a perfect word for us. There are two vowels and two consonants. But as you can imagine, not every word is like that. So we are trying to make it as if it is, if it is while we are speaking, using 'ulama'.
So I have a sentence here. First, I will say it slowly and I will say it quickly using 'ulama'. The first one is slowly.
İşinden eve dönen Ali yemekten önce duş aldı.
And when I say it quickly,
İşinden eve dönen Ali yemekten önce duş aldı.
if I slow my fast sentence down, it is like “işinde-neve-döne-nali-yemekte-nönce-du-şaldı. As if there are equal consonants and vowels in one word. It's not like that but when we read it, the way we read it is like that. So when you are having a hard time, if you are, when you are watching this Turkish movie, remember that the speakers are using 'ulama' a lot. That's why you are not catching the words separately. But in time, you'll get used to it. So don't worry.
And don't forget to study the vocabulary. Find the vocabulary and memorize that. I will see you next time. Next time. Bye.
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