Tools/Turkish to IPA
Turkish to IPA converter
Convert Turkish text to IPA phonetic transcription. See the IPA, hear the word, and turn it into review-ready flashcards — without leaving what you are reading.
Free web converter below, no install. Or 10 transcriptions/day free on the desktop app.
Turkish in IPA
9 worked examples, each chosen for a sound the spelling hides.
hello — stress on the last syllable
thanks — ş, and k fronted next to ü
rain — ğ lengthens the a, no consonant left
beautiful — front rounded ü
glasses — front g and k, two rounded vowels
book — k fronted to /c/ before i
light — the dotless vowel twice
school — back k, dark l
eye — one syllable, front g
Turkish sounds to know
The symbols that come up most often in Turkish transcription, and what each one actually asks your mouth to do.
| Letter | Example | IPA | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| ğ | yağmur | /ː/ | The yumuşak ge. Between back vowels it simply lengthens the vowel before it; it is never the hard g of English go. |
| ı | ışık | /ɯ/ | A close back unrounded vowel, and a different letter from i. Dotted and dotless are not variants of each other. |
| ö | gözlük | /œ/ | Front rounded, as in German schön but short. |
| ü | güzel | /y/ | The other front rounded vowel. Both take part in vowel harmony, which is what makes suffixes change shape. |
| ş | teşekkür | /ʃ/ | The sh sound, with a cedilla. Turkish spells it with one letter where English needs two. |
| ç | ağaç | /t͡ʃ/ | The ch of church, again a single letter. |
| c | cam | /d͡ʒ/ | The j of judge. Turkish c is never /k/ or /s/. |
| k (next to a front vowel) | kitap | /c/ | A palatal stop, further forward than the English k. The same letter is /k/ next to a back vowel. |
| g (next to a front vowel) | gözlük | /ɟ/ | The voiced partner of /c/, by the same rule. |
| l (after a back vowel) | okul | /ɫ/ | Dark l after a, ı, o, u; light /l/ after the front vowels. One letter, two sounds. |
How Turkish writing maps to sound
The Turkish alphabet was designed in 1928 to be one letter per sound, and it very nearly is. The two places it is not: ğ, which is a lengthening mark rather than a consonant in modern speech, and k, g and l, which shift between back and front articulations depending on the vowel beside them without any change in spelling.
Which Turkish do these transcriptions show?
Transcriptions follow Istanbul Turkish, the basis of the standard language. Anatolian dialects vary in vowel quality and often keep a consonantal ğ that Istanbul has reduced to length; Azerbaijani is a closely related but separate language with its own inventory.
Why guess Turkish pronunciation?
Turkish is highly phonetic, but vowel harmony, the soft g (ğ), and the dotless ı behave in ways that surprise speakers of other languages. IPA confirms the vowels and the lengthening that ğ produces.
From Turkish text to IPA in seconds
Select the text
Highlight Turkish text anywhere — a PDF, a browser, a subtitle, a chat. Or paste it into the free web converter above.
Press Alt+Q
IPAtics detects the language automatically and shows the IPA in a floating overlay, right where you are reading.
Hear it, save it, study it
Play native audio, tap any symbol to learn it, save the word, and generate Anki cards — all in one place.
Frequently asked questions
Transcribe Turkish the fast way
Install IPAtics to get IPA on any Turkish text in any app — with audio, saved words, and Anki cards.