A1 · Alphabet and pronunciation · about 6 minutes
Two-way vowel harmony: e or a
endings with two forms
The last vowel of the word decides whether an ending gets an e or an a.
Do you know this already?
“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need8
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- bütünwhole; all
- beyazwhite
- okulschool
- sınıfclass, year; classroom
- kedicat
- yeninew
- parkpark
- gitmekto go
Understand
RememberThe last vowel decides: front vowel, e; back vowel, a.
- Signal words
- -ler
- -lar
- -de
- -da
- -e
- -a
The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Turkish.
| after e, i, ö, ü: e | ev — evler, kedi — kediler, göz — gözler |
| after a, ı, o, u: a | kitap — kitaplar, kız — kızlar, okul — okullar |
| in, at, on: -de / -da | evde, okulda |
| from, out of: -den / -dan | evden, okuldan |
| to, towards: -e / -a | eve, okula |
| ending after ending | evlerde, kitaplarda |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is about
After e, i, ö, ü the ending has an e.
Bütün evler beyaz.All the houses are white.
After a, ı, o, u the ending has an a.
Çocuklar okulda.The children are at school.
Only the last vowel of the word counts.
Öğretmenler geliyor.The teachers are coming.
Each further ending follows the one before it.
Öğrenciler sınıflarda.The pupils are in the classrooms.
Example sentences
Ben evdeyim.I am at home.
Ayşe okulda.Ayşe is at school.
Kediler bahçede.The cats are in the garden.
6 more example sentences
Mehmet Berlin'e gidiyor.Mehmet is going to Berlin.
Elif Ankara'dan geliyor.Elif is coming from Ankara.
Gözlerin çok güzel.Your eyes are very beautiful.
Kızlar parkta.The girls are in the park.
Pazar günü köye gidiyoruz.On Sunday we are going to the village.
Kitap masada.The book is on the table.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
If you choose by feel, in a long word you tend to pick the vowel that stands out most — the i in kitap. But only the last vowel counts, and here it is an a. Read every word from the end: which vowel comes last?
Quick check
A warm-up: 2 questions, answered straight away. They do not count towards your progress.
Practise
8 exercises on this topic. Your answers are checked in the browser; none of them leaves your device.
Now write it yourself8 sentences on this topic, typed and checked instantly.
Well done
How well do you know this topic?
This is filled in automatically after you practise. You can change it here at any time.
Next on the path: 6 · Four-way vowel harmony: i, ı, ü or uBack to the learning path
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
Turkish endings come in several versions, and the last vowel of the word before them decides which one you need. This is called vowel harmony. In two-way harmony (Turkish grammars call it küçük ünlü uyumu, “small vowel harmony”) there are two versions: one with e and one with a. The plural is the first example: ev → evler “houses”, kitap → kitaplar “books”.
The rule: after e, i, ö, ü comes e; after a, ı, o, u comes a. The first four are said at the front of the mouth, the last four further back. gözler, kediler, but çocuklar, kızlar. Only the last vowel counts: öğretmenler, arabalar.
Many endings follow this pattern: -ler (plural), -de (in, at, on), -den (from, out of), -e (to, towards) and later the negative -me. Where English puts a little word in front — “in the house”, “to the school” — Turkish adds an ending at the back: evde, okula. Once you have learnt the rule on one ending, you have it for all of them.
When several endings follow each other, each one takes its cue from the one before: ev-ler-de“in the houses”kitap-lar-da“in the books” In the exercise hints the ending is given with e; you find the right form yourself.
A closer look
Why it is called harmony
A Turkish word likes to sound all front or all back in the mouth: evlerde, okullarda. The endings adapt so that the word does not jump back and forth while you say it. That is why an ending that does not fit stands out — it sounds like a wrong note in a tune.
Exceptions and special cases1
Exception
When a word from Arabic ends in a consonant that sounds “light”, such as saat or kalp
then it takes the ending with e despite the a: saatler, kalpler.
Bu saatler çok pahalı.These watches are very expensive.
Why? In these words the last consonant sounds light, and the ending follows the sound, not the letter. There are only a few; you learn them with the word.
Worth knowing2
Worth knowing
Compared with English
English has several plural endings and you learn which word takes which: “books”, “boxes”, “children”, “mice”. Turkish has one plural ending for every noun, and it simply adapts to the word. You learn no list of irregular plurals, just one rule.
Bu sokakta evler ve okullar var.There are houses and schools in this street.
Worth knowing
Front and back
Say e, i, ö, ü one after the other, then a, ı, o, u. For the first four your tongue is at the front, for the others at the back. A word that ends at the back gets an ending that sounds at the back too.
Kızlar evde, çocuklar okulda.The girls are at home, the children at school.
The verbs on this page, in every form: gelmek · gitmek