Turkish has a rich vocabulary that can be extremely fun to learn. We group Turkish words and phrases into themed lists to make it easier to learn and memorize them. Combining a vocabulary list with example sentences, flash card memorization practices, and relevant dialogues is the best way to learn new words.
Modern Turkish primarily contains Turkic words, which means it shares a lot in common with related Turkic languages, especially those from the Oghuz group such as Azerbaijani and Turkmen. The language also shares agglutination and vowel harmony, both of which can change the spelling sound, and length of words.
Agglutination can make memorizing Turkish vocabulary difficult for foreigners since it can be hard to recognize altered words. However, we hope to provide enough examples with each vocabulary collection so that the patterns of suffixes begin to make sense.
Like most languages, Turkish is filled with borrowed words from other languages, mostly Arabic, Persian, and French. Since the founding of the modern Turkish Republic in 1923 and the many language reforms that accompanied it, modern Turkish has far fewer loanwords than Ottoman Turkish.
However, there are still tons of borrowed vocabulary, which means that anyone who already knows these other languages will have an easier time learning Turkish vocabulary.
As we recommend in these 15 steps for learning Turkish quickly, cognates can be an incredibly efficient way to learn new vocabulary. A cognate is a word that looks and sounds similar between two languages.
The pronunciation may or may not be the same, however, the similar spelling and look mean that memorization is particularly easy. For example, consider the following cognates between Turkish and English:
There are hundreds of words like these, making this a fantastic strategy to boost your vocabulary when learning a new language.
While serious learners should study this collection of the 300 most common words, my goal for this lesson is to make a tighter list of the most useful Turkish phrases for tourists. If you are taking a trip to Turkey and a larger list of more general words and phrases seems overwhelming, this travel vocabulary […]
Turkish Travel Vocabulary: Basic Words And Phrases For Tourists Read More »
For today’s Turkish lesson, we can take a break from the more complicated grammar to focus on learning vocabulary for the days and months in Turkish. Knowing general Turkish vocabulary is crucial, however, in this guide, I focus on a comprehensive overview of calendar vocabulary: Turkish days of the week and months of the year,
Turkish Calendar Vocabulary: Master The Days And Months In Turkish Read More »
As a native Turkish speaker, I can assure you that we Turks absolutely love when foreigners try to speak our language! So, whether you are planning a trip to Turkey sometime soon and want some travel vocabulary or just want to impress your Turkish friends, consider this your essential guide to the most common Turkish
Learn 300+ Most Common Turkish Words You Have To Know With Audio Pronunciation Read More »
