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About Vowel Harmony - Turkish Vowel

Harmony Rules
The first rule of Vowel Harmony concerns the vowels - A - and EMore about Vowel Harmony of SuffixesSome of the SuffixesThe
Particle de or da - and, also, tooA Note about Conversational
StressThe suffix -den or -dan - from, by, via, throughThe suffix -e ,
-ye or -a, -ya - to, towardsThe Second Rule concerns the Vowels - I,
and U, Vowel Harmony Examples for I, and U, The Four Forms
of the Suffix -I-These are the Complete Rules of Vowel
HarmonyVowel Harmony Rules according to Turkish Grammar1 Byk nl Uyumu - (Major Vowel Harmony)2 - Kk nl Uyumu
- (Minor Vowel Harmony)Examples of Vowel Harmony

The eight vowels of Turkish


There are eight vowels in Turkish which are divided into two
groups as follows:
The A-Undotted Vowels - A I O U
The E-Dotted Vowels - E

The first rule of Vowel Harmony concerns


the vowels - A - and - E
Forming the Plural
To explain Vowel Harmony we are using the Plural Suffix choosing
either -ler or -lar to mirror the final vowel of its noun - all other
suffixes will follow these Vowel Harmony rules:
To form the plural we have a choice to add either -lar or -ler to
the word:

Plural of the A-Undotted Vowel Group


We must add -lar to words whose final vowel is any of the AUndotted Vowels
balta - final vowel -a - axe
baltalar - [balta-lar] - axes
kap - final vowel - - door
kaplar - [kap-lar] - doors
palto - final vowel -o - overcoat
paltolar - [palto-lar] - overcoats
boncuk - final vowel -u - bead

boncuklar - [boncuk-lar] - beads


The vowels in these Turkish words are all of the A-Undotted
Group so the added Plural suffix -lar - must also contain an AUndotted Vowel.

Plural of the E-Dotted Vowel Group


We must add -ler to words whose final vowel is one of the EDotted Vowels
ev -final vowel -e - house - evler - [ev-ler] - houses
kedi - final vowel -i - cat - kediler - [kedi-ler] - cats
gz - final vowel - - eye - gzler - [gz-ler] - eyes
dl - final vowel - - present (gift) - dller - [dl-ler] presents
The vowels in these Turkish words are all of the E-Dotted Group
so the added Plural suffix -ler - must also contain an E-Dotted
Vowel. This echoing of the final vowel by the suffix is called Vowel
Harmony.

Some Exceptions In Formation of Words


There are a very few exceptions to this rule where the suffix does
not echo Vowel Harmony exactly - as examples:
saat - hour, clock - saatler - hours, clocks
harf - letter (of alphabet) - harfler - letter (of alphabet)
We should note that all exceptions to the rule of pluralizing nouns
in Turkish also constitute exceptions when other suffixes are
attached to them. For instance, when you want to pluralize the
word, say, rol - rle in Turkish, then we must add the suffix -ler to
form - roller - roles, which is contrary to the general rule, as the
plural suffix -lar would normally be added to a word like rol, which
contains an Undotted Vowel o.
These words like rol also constitute exceptions when case suffixes
are attached, as follows:
Bu rol almak istiyorum - I want to take (on) the is rle.
Bu rolden ok bktm - I am really fed up with this rle. [den bkmak = to get fed up with]
Bu rolde bir sr aksaklk var - There is something wrong
in this rle.
Bu role hi alamadm - I could not get used to this rle at
all. [ -e almak = to get used to]

Some Exceptions - with Suffix Additions Shown


Vaat
Promise
Kalp
Heart
Harf
Letter (alpha.)
There are other words - especially from Arabic (or other foreign impo

More about Vowel Harmony of Suffixes


We have seen that that words with their last vowel in the AUndotted Group take -lar as their plural.
This rule applies for all suffixes which contain a.
Those words with an E-Dotted Group Vowel take -ler as their
plural.
This rule applies for all suffixes which contain e.
Let us look at some common but important words which are used
all the time. These little words - in, on, at, from, to, with, etc. are suffixes in Turkish and as such are affixed to the word they
modify.
There are a number of Rules to take into account one of these
being the Principle of Vowel Harmony.

Some of the Suffixes


The suffix -de or -da - in, on, at.
adamda - [adam-da] - on the man
adamlarda - [adam-lar-da] - on the men
kedide - [kedi-de] - on the cat
kedilerde - [kedi-ler-de] - on the cats
evde - [ev-de] - at home
evlerde - [ev-ler-de] - at the houses
kapda - [kap-da] - at the door
kaplarda - [kap-lar-da] - at/by the doors
kprde - [kpr-de] - on the bridge
kprlerde - [kpr-ler-de] - on the bridges
odada - [oda-da] - in the room
odalarda - [oda-lar-da] - in the rooms

You can see that in the plural we have added two suffixes -ler and
-de or - -lar and -da - and tagged them altogether to make one
word in Turkish.
The Locative Suffix de or da - in, on, at
Locative suffix is -de/-da and it shows concrete place (location):
Odadaym - [oda-da-ym]- I am in the room
Ali bey, evdeymi. -[ev-de-ymi] - Ali bey must be at home [imi inference]
In the sentence above we have put an English translation - "Ali
bey must be at home" - and it should be noted by our Turkish
readers that this use of "must" shows doubt to English speakers,
as it means - "Surely Ali bey must be at home". It does not
equate to obligation as in the Turkish - "Ali bey evde olmali."
Bahedeki ocuklar top ile oynuyorlar - The children (who
are) in the garden are playing with a ball.
With animate subjects the verb should be congruent with subject.
If the subject is singular, the verb should be singular, and if the
subject is plural, the verb should be plural.
But for inanimate subjects, the verb should be always singular.
ocuklar oynuyorlar. - The children are playing. - (Subject
Animate so verb is congruent)
Yapraklar dyor. - Leaves are falling. - (Subject Inanimate
so verb is singular)
Thanks to Bahaddin Cankurt for this explanation on verb usage. - Feb
2006

The Particle de or da - and, also, too


This is not a Locative Suffix but written separately and it is
translated - too, also, and, both. . It is a word in its own right
but it does follow Vowel Harmony rules - hence the choice of - de or - da. It is always written separately as -de - and pronounced as
- de or - da and does not show any Consonant Mutation to - "te" or - "ta".
The following examples show this clearly:
Dolapta bir anta var. - There is a bag in the cupboard.
Bu dolap da kkm. - This cupboard is small too.

A Note about Conversational Stress

And there is another distinction about the stress. The locative


suffix -de gets the stress on itself, but for the separate particle de - the stress is on the preceding syllable.
Dolapta bir anta var. - There is a bag in the cupboard.
Bu dolap da kkm. - This cupboard also seems (to be)
small
Listen to the difference in conversational stress.
Listen to the difference in conversational stress by a native
speaker.
Note that the translations between the Locative Case suffix -de/da and the particle de have two very different meanings.
Ali bey de odada - Ali bey is also in the room
Benim de param yok - I also have no money
Benim param var. - I have money
Benim de param var - I have got money too.
Bahedeki ocuklar da top ile oynuyorlar - The children in
the garden are playing with a ball too...
Ali bey de ben de sigara ieriz - Both Ali bey and I smoke
(cigarettes)
Note here that the particle - de - also - is repeated after each
individual subject.

The suffix -den or -dan - from, by, via,


through
adamdan - [adam-dan] - from the man
adamlardan - [adamlar-da] - from the men
kediden - [kedi-den] - from the cat
kedilerden - [kediler-den] - from the cats
evden - [ev-den] - from home
evlerden - [evler-den] - from the houses
kapdan - [kap-dan] - from the door
kaplardan - [kaplar-dan] - from the doors
kprden - [kpr-den] - from the bridge
kprlerden - [kprler-den] - from the bridges
odadan - [oda-dan] - from the room
odalardan - [odalar-dan] - from the rooms
You can see that in the plural we have added two suffixes -ler and
-den or -lar and -dan and tagged them altogether to make one
word in Turkish.

The suffix -e , -ye or -a, -ya - to, towards


adama - [adam-a] - to the man
adamlara - [adamlar-a] - to the men
kediye - [kedi-ye] - to the cat
kedi - cat - ends in a vowel so "kedi-y-e" is used - [kedi-e] - would
be incorrect.
kedilere - [kediler-e] - to the cats
eve - [ev-e] - to home
evlere - [evler-e] - to the houses
kapya - [kap-ya] - to the door
kap - door - ends in a vowel so "kap-y-a" is used - [kap-a] would be incorrect
kaplara - [kaplar-a] - to the doors
Some more words which end in vowels
kprye - [kpr-ye] - to the bridge
kprlere - [kpr-ler-e] - to the bridges
odaya - [oda-ya] - to the room
odalara - [oda-lar-a] - to the rooms
The Buffer Letter -y- is used when the word ends in a vowel.
Turkish does not like two vowels to be together.

The Second Rule concerns the Vowels - I,


and U,
Explanation about Dotted and Undotted Vowels
Basically this is about what are called Front Produced - Dotted
Vowels - formed at the the front of the mouth - as exampled in
the French Language - and the Back Produced - Undotted
Vowels - produced nearer the throat - as exampled in English.
However, I prefer to categorize the difference as Dotted versus
Undotted Forms for ease of explanation and leave the
grammatical terms to the expert linguists..

Vowel Harmony Examples for I, and U,


We remember that there are two different forms of I () and U ()
in Turkish.
(1) The Undotted Forms of I or U must follow the A-Undotted
group A I O U

(2) The Dotted Forms of or must follow the E-Dotted group E

We saw in The Principle of Vowel Harmony above that a suffix


containing the letter a can have two forms either a or e. The the
suffix -den - from - which is used with the E-Dotted vowels - and
-dan - which is used with the A-Undotted vowels - was shown as
an example.
If we now consider a suffix which contains a (generic) letter -I we
find there are four forms. These are -i, -, -u, . For example the
suffix -im - my... We find it will change its own vowel - basically
the -i- to any of -i, -, -u, to mirror the last vowel of the word it
is suffixed to. Note that we take the suffix -im - my.. as an
example. All other suffixes with an internal -i- vowel will follow
these Vowel Harmony Rules
Some Examples
ev - house
evim - [ev-im] - my house
evlerim - [ev-ler-im] - my houses
raf - shelf
rafn - [raf-n] - your shelf
raflarn - [raf-lar-n] - your shelves
it - hedge
iti - [it-i] - his hedge
itleri - [ it-ler-i] - his hedges
kz - girl / daughter
kzm - [kz-m] - my girl
kzlarm - [kz-lar-m] - my girls
gz - eye
gzm - [gz-m] - my eye
gzlerim - [gz-ler-im] - my eyes
yol - road
yolunuz - [yol-unuz] - your road
yollarnz - [yol-lar-nz] - your roads
gn - day
gnmz - [gn-mz ] - our day
gnlerimiz - [gn-ler-imiz] - our days

okul - school
okullar - [okul-lar] - their school(s)
okullar - [okul-lar-] - his schools

The Four Forms of the Suffix -IThe four forms of an -i- suffix such as -im, -m, -um, -m - my are as follows
Note that we take the suffix -im - my.. as an example. All other
suffixes with an internal -i- vowel will follow these Vowel Harmony
Rules:
The suffix form -im follows words whose last vowel is -e or
-i:
Harmonizing with final (Dotted Group Vowel) -e in the root word:
bilet - ticket
biletim - [bilet-im] - my ticket
Harmonising with final Dotted -i in the root word:
di - tooth
diim -[di-im] - my tooth
dilerim - [diler-im] - my teeth
In the table above we notice that the suffix -im must contain a
dotted -i- as it follows a vowel from the E-dotted Group. This is
also true of the plural form -ler
The suffix -m follows words whose last vowel is -a or -
Harmonizing with final (Undotted Group Vowel) -a in the root
word:
at - horse
atm - [at-m] - my horse
atlarm - [atlar-m] - my horses
Harmonizing with final Undotted - in the root word:
kz - girl
kzm - [kz-m] - my girl
kzlarm - [kzlar-m] - my girls
In the table above we notice that the suffix -m must contain an
undotted -- as it follows a vowel from the A-dotted Group. This
is also true of the plural form -lar
The suffix -m follows words whose last vowel is - or -
Harmonizing with final Dotted - in the root word:
gz - eye
gzm - [gz-m] - my eye

gzlerim - [gzler-im] - my eyes


Harmonizing with final Dotted - in the root word:
gl - rose
glm - [gl-m] - my rose
gllerim - [gller-im] - my roses
Notice that the plurals gzlerim and gllerim take the -im suffix
(not the -m suffix as in the singular) as they immediately follow
the final vowel -e of the plural -ler
The suffix-um follows words whose last vowel is -o or -u
Harmonizing with final Undotted -o in the root word:
jeton - token, jeton
jetonum - [jeton-um] - my token, my jeton
jetonlarm - [jetonlar-m] - my tokens, my jetons
Harmonizing with final Undotted -u in the root word:
oyun - game
oyunum - [oyun-um] - my game
oyunlarm - [oyunlar-m] - my games
Notice that the plurals jetonlarm and oyunlarm take the -m
suffix (not the -um suffix as in the singular) as they immediately
follow the final vowel -a of the plural -lar
The Rule for Words ending in a Vowel
The Vowel of the Suffix -im - my - is dropped to prevent two
vowels occurring together, (the root wrod itself is preserved).
baba - father
babam - my father - (baba-m not babam)
baban - your father - (baba-n not baban)
kedi - cat
kedim - my cat - (kedi-m not kediim)
kedimiz - our cat - (kedi-miz not kediimiz)
palto - overcoat
paltom - my overcoat - (paltou-m not paltoum)
paltonuz - your (pl.) overcoat - (palto-nuz not palto-unuz)
When adding -im - my - (or the other Possessive Adjectives) - to a
word which ends in a vowel, then we only add the shortened suffix
-m, -n, -miz, -niz etc. - this prevents two vowels occurring
together.
As the third person singular suffix is just a bare vowel -i, then it
becomes -si by using buffer letter -s- in order to keep two vowels
apart and preserve the original root word:
apka - hat

apkam - my hat
apkas [apka-s not apka-] - his/her hat
See Possessive Adjectives - for a full discussion on Possessive
Adjectives

These are the Complete Rules of Vowel


Harmony
Turkish Vowel Harmony Rules
Undotted A, I, O, U
Dotted E, , ,
Undotted A or I
Dotted E or
Undotted O or U
Dotted or

Vowel Harmony Rules according to Turkish


Grammar
The Explanation and Grammar Rules in this panel (in Turkish)
about Vowel harmony is taken from the TDK (Turkish Language
Association website which can be found at: The TDK Turkish
Language Association.
Manisa Turkish is publishing this in the interests of our Turkish
Students and of course those students of other nationalities who
may be interested in the underlying Turkish Grammar Rules
regarding Vowel Harmony.
Sesler ve Ses Uyumlar
Trkede sesler, nller ve nszler olmak zere iki ana gruba
ayrlr.
nllerin Nitelikleri
Ses yolunda herhangi bir engele arpmadan kan seslere nl
denir. Trkede sekiz nl vardr: a, e, , i, o, , u,

.
nller u biimde snflandrlr:
A. k yeri ve dilin durumuna gre: (According to exit
position and tongue position)

a, , o, u.
2. nce nller: e, i, , .
1. Kaln nller:

B. Dudaklarn durumuna gre: (According to position of


the lips)
1. Dz nller: a, e, , i.
2.Yuvarlak nller: o, , u, .
C. Azn aklna gre: (According to mouth opening)
1. Geni nller: a, e, o, .
2. Dar nller:

, i, u, .

nllerin nitelikleri aadaki izelgede toplu olarak gsterilmitir:

Kaln (Thick)
nce (Thin)

1 - Byk nl Uyumu - (Major Vowel


Harmony)
Bir kelimenin birinci hecesinde kaln bir nl (a, , o, u)
bulunuyorsa, dier hecelerdeki nller de kaln; ince bir nl (e, i,
, ) bulunuyorsa dier hecelerdeki nller de ince olur:

adm, az, ayak, boyun, boyunduruk,


burun, dalga, dudak, duvak, krlang,
beik, bilezik, gelincik, gzlk, zengi,
vergi, yzk.
Buna byk nl uyumu ad verilir.

2 - Kk nl Uyumu - (Minor Vowel


Harmony)
Kk nl uyumu kural iki ynldr:
1. Duz - Bir kelimenin ilk hecesinde dz nl (a, e, , i) varsa
sonraki hecelerde de dz nl bulunur: anlamak,

yanamak, kayk, srmak, lklamak,


seslenmek, yelek, bilek, ilek.

2. Yuvarlak - Bir kelimenin ilk hecesinde yuvarlak nl (o, , u, )


varsa bunu izleyen ilk hecede dar yuvarlak (u, ) veya geni dz
(a, e) nl bulunur: boyunduruk, ocuk, odun,

yorgunluk, yoklamak, vurmak, yumurta,


zlemek, gremek, srmek.
Examples of Vowel Harmony
So, the suffix -di uses Vowel Harmony for the past tense (-di' li
gemi zaman) in all persons and must be compatible with these
rules, too:

Kalmak: kaldm, kaldn,


kaldnz, kaldlar
Klmak: kldm, kldn,
kldnz, kldlar
Komak: kotum, kotun,
kotunuz, kotular
Vurmak: vurdum, vurdun,
vurdunuz, vurdular
Gelmek: geldim, geldin,
geldiniz, geldiler
Bilmek: bildim, bildin,
bildiniz, bildiler
Blmek: bldm, bldn,
bldnz, bldler
Glmek: gldm, gldn,
gldnz, gldler

kald, kaldk,
kld, kldk,
kotu, kotuk,
vurdu, vurduk,
geldi, geldik,
bildi, bildik,
bld, bldk,
gld, gldk,

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