About Vowel Harmony - Turkish Vowel Harmony Rules

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 İ Ö Ü

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 A-Undotted Vowels
balta - final vowel -a - axe
baltalar - [balta-lar] - axes
kapı - final vowel -ı - door
kapılar - [kapı-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 A-Undotted Vowel.

Plural of the E-Dotted Vowel Group
We must add -ler to words whose final vowel is one of the E-Dotted Vowels
ev -final vowel -e - house - evler - [ev-ler] - houses
kedi - final vowel -i - cat - kediler - [kedi-ler] - cats
göz - final vowel -ö - eye - gözler - [göz-ler] - eyes
ödül - final vowel -ü - present (gift) - ödüller - [ödül-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 - rôle 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 rolü almak istiyorum - I want to take (on) the is rôle.
Bu rolden çok bıktım - I am really fed up with this rôle. [-den bıkmak = to get fed up with]
Bu rolde bir sürü aksaklık var - There is something wrong in this rôle.
Bu role hiç alışamadım - I could not get used to this rôle at all. [ -e alışmak = to get used to]

There are other words - especially from Arabic (or other foreign imported words) - which exhibit this irregularity, but it is not too important - only the words mentioned above are in regular use.

More about Vowel Harmony of Suffixes

We have seen that that words with their last vowel in the A-Undotted Group take -lar as their plural. This rule applies for all suffixes which contain a and 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
kapıda - [kapı-da] - at the door
kapılarda - [kapı-lar-da] - at/by the doors
köprüde - [köprü-de] - on the bridge
köprülerde - [köprü-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):
Odadayım - [oda-da-yım]- I am in the room
Ali bey, evdeymiş. -[ev-de-ymiş] - Ali bey must be at home [-imiş 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."

Bahçedeki çocuklar 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.
Çocuklar oynuyorlar. - The children are playing. - (Subject Animate so verb is congruent)
Yapraklar düsüyor. - Leaves are falling. - (Subject Inanimate so verb is singular)

The Particle de or -da - 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 çanta var. - There is a bag in the cupboard.
Bu dolap da küçükmüş. - 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 çanta var. - There is a bag in the cupboard.
Bu dolap da küçükmüş. - 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.
Bahçedeki çocuklar da top ile oynuyorlar - The children in the garden are playing with a ball too...
Ali bey de ben de sigara içeriz - 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
kapıdan - [kapı-dan] - from the door
kapılardan - [kapılar-dan] - from the doors
köprüden - [köprü-den] - from the bridge
köprülerden - [köprüler-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
kapıya - [kapı-ya] - to the door
kapı - door - ends in a vowel so "kapı-y-a" is used - [kapı-a] - would be incorrect
kapılara - [kapılar-a] - to the doors

Some more words which end in vowels
köprüye - [köprü-ye] - to the bridge
köprülere - [köprü-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, İ and U, Ü

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, İ and U, Ü

We remember that there are two different forms of I (İ) and U (Ü) 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  İ or Ü must follow the E-Dotted group E İ Ö Ü

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, -ı, -u, ü. For example the suffix -im - my... We find it will change its own vowel - basically the -i- to any of -i, -ı, -u, ü 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
rafın - [raf-ın] - your shelf
rafların - [raf-lar-ın] - your shelves

çit - hedge
çiti - [çit-i] - his hedge
çitleri - [ çit-ler-i] - his hedges

kız - girl / daughter
kızım - [kız-ım] - my girl
kızlarım - [kız-lar-ım] - my girls

yol - road
yolunuz - [yol-unuz] - your road
yollarınız - [yol-lar-ınız] - your roads

gün - day
günümüz - [gün-ümüz ] - our day
günlerimiz - [gün-ler-imiz] - our days

okul - school
okulları - [okul-ları] - their school(s)
okulları - [okul-lar-ı] - his schools

The Four Forms of the Suffix -I-

The four forms of an -i- suffix such as -im, -ım, -um, -üm - 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 tickett
Harmonising with final Dotted -i in the root word:
diş - tooth
dişim -[diş-im] - my tooth
dişlerim - [dişler-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 -ım follows words whose last vowel is -a or -ı
Harmonizing with final (Undotted Group Vowel) -a in the root word:
at - horse
atım - [at-ım] - my horse
atlarım - [atlar-ım] - my horses
Harmonizing with final Undotted -ı in the root word:
kız - girl
kızım - [kız-ım] - my girl
kızlarım - [kızlar-ım] - my girls
- In the table above we notice that the suffix -ım must contain an undotted -ı- as it follows a vowel from the A-dotted Group. This is also true of the plural form -lar

The suffix -üm follows words whose last vowel is -ö or -ü
Harmonizing with final Dotted -ö in the root word:
göz - eye
gözüm - [göz-üm] - my eye
gözlerim - [gözler-im] - my eyes
Harmonizing with final Dotted -ü in the root word:
gül - rose
gülüm - [gül-üm] - my rose
güllerim - [güller-im] - my roses
- Notice that the plurals gözlerim and güllerim take the -im suffix (not the -üm 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
jetonlarım - [jetonlar-ım] - my tokens, my jetons
Harmonizing with final Undotted -u in the root word:
oyun - game
oyunum - [oyun-um] - my game
oyunlarım - [oyunlar-ım] - my games
- Notice that the plurals jetonlarım and oyunlarım take the -ım 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 babaım)
baban - your father - (baba-n not babaın)
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 paltounuz)
- 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:
şapka - hat
şapkam - my hat
şapkası [şapka-sı not şapka-ı] - his/her hat
See Possessive Adjectives - for a full discussion on Possessive Adjectives

These are the Complete Rules of Vowel Harmony

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 Uyumları
Türkçede sesler, ünlüler ve ünsüzler olmak üzere iki ana gruba ayrılır.
Ünlülerin Nitelikleri
Ses yolunda herhangi bir engele çarpmadan çıkan seslere ünlü denir. Türkçede sekiz ünlü vardır: a, e, ı, i, o, ö, u, ü.

Ünlüler şu biçimde sınıflandırılır:
A. Çıkış yeri ve dilin durumuna göre: (According to exit position and tongue position)
1. Kalın ünlüler: a, ı, o, u.
2. İnce ünlüler: e, i, ö, ü.
B. Dudakların durumuna göre: (According to position of the lips)
1. Düz ünlüler: a, e, ı, i.
2.Yuvarlak ünlüler: o, ö, u, ü.
C. Ağzın açıklığına göre: (According to mouth opening)
1. Geniş ünlüler: a, e, o, ö.
2. Dar ünlüler: ı, i, u, ü.

1 - Büyük Ünlü Uyumu - (Major Vowel Harmony)

Bir kelimenin birinci hecesinde kalın bir ünlü (a, ı, o, u) bulunuyorsa, diğer hecelerdeki ünlüler de kalın; ince bir ünlü (e, i, ö, ü) bulunuyorsa diğer hecelerdeki ünlüler de ince olur:
adım, ağız, ayak, boyun, boyunduruk, burun, dalga, dudak, duvak, kırlangıç, beşik, bilezik, gelincik, gözlük, üzengi, vergi, yüzük.
Buna büyük ünlü uyumu adı verilir.

2 - Küçük Ünlü Uyumu - (Minor Vowel Harmony)

Küçük ünlü uyumu kuralı iki yönlüdür:

1. Duz - Bir kelimenin ilk hecesinde düz ünlü (a, e, ı, i) varsa sonraki hecelerde de düz ünlü bulunur: anlaşmak, yanaşmak, kayıkçı, ısırmak, ılıklaşmak, seslenmek, yelek, bilek, çilek.

2. Yuvarlak - Bir kelimenin ilk hecesinde yuvarlak ünlü (o, ö, u, ü) varsa bunu izleyen ilk hecede dar yuvarlak (u, ü) veya geniş düz (a, e) ünlü bulunur: boyunduruk, çocuk, odun, yorgunluk, yoklamak, vurmak, yumurta, özlemek, güreşmek, sürmek.

Examples of Vowel Harmony

So, the suffix -di uses Vowel Harmony for the past tense (-di' li geçmiş zaman) in all persons and must be compatible with these rules, too:
Kalmak: kaldım, kaldın, kaldı, kaldık, kaldınız, kaldılar
Kılmak: kıldım, kıldın, kıldı, kıldık, kıldınız, kıldılar
Koşmak: koştum, koştun, koştu, koştuk, koştunuz, koştular
Vurmak: vurdum, vurdun, vurdu, vurduk, vurdunuz, vurdular
Gelmek: geldim, geldin, geldi, geldik, geldiniz, geldiler
Bilmek: bildim, bildin, bildi, bildik, bildiniz, bildiler
Bölmek: böldüm, böldün, böldü, böldük, böldünüz, böldüler
Gülmek: güldüm, güldün, güldü, güldük, güldünüz, güldüler