Demystifying Turkish Vowel Harmony: A Simple Guide

The "Musical" Language

Turkish words sound pleasing to the ear because of Vowel Harmony. This rule dictates that vowels within a word should change to match each other.

The Two Groups

Vowels are split into two teams:

• Hard Vowels (Kalın): a, ı, o, u
• Soft Vowels (İnce): e, i, ö, ü

If the last vowel of a word is Hard, any suffix you add must also contain a Hard vowel.

Major Vowel Harmony (A vs E)

This rules the plural suffix -lar/-ler:

• Araba (Car) -> ends in 'a' (Hard) -> Araba-lar
• Kedi (Cat) -> ends in 'i' (Soft) -> Kedi-ler

You wouldn't say "Kedi-lar" because it sounds "clunky" to a Turkish speaker. It breaks the harmony!