Turkish is dominated by suffixes (endings) and in order to make these suffixes harmonise (sound correct) we need to change the vowels in suffixes to match those in the stem words.
It sounds a bit complicated at first but once you practise Vowel Harmony then you will start to do it automatically.
The ending for making a word plural (s), is either ler/lar depending on the Vowel harmony.
for example, Güzel = Beautiful
They are Beautiful, = Güzeller
The last vowel in Güzel is ‘e’ and so the plural ending to use is ‘ler’ to match the vowel.
Lets look at it a bit more:
The vowel in ler/lar changes depending on the last vowel in the stem word to keep the vowel harmony.
vowels for -lar = a , ı , o, u
vowels for -ler = e , i , ö , ü
A simple way to remember with all Vowel Harmony in Turkish is all the vowels without dots go with (a) and all the ones with dot’s got with (e)
Lets change some words into plural:
ev (stem) e (vowel) ler (suffix)
araba (stem) a (vowel) lar (suffix)
deft (stem) e (vowel) ler (suffix)
kalem (stem) e (vowel) ler (suffix)
kedi (stem) i (vowel) ler (suffix)
şark (stem) ı (vowel) lar (suffix)
ders (stem) e (vowel) ler (suffix)
şehir (stem) i (vowel) ler (suffix)
ağaç (stem) a (vowel) lar (suffix)
At first Turkish Vowel Harmony can seem a hard to remember. The best explanation I have read so far came from Teach Yourself Turkish. (here is a link for the book on amazon amzn.to/1a9UITO)
In Teach Yourself Turksih they use the following explanations for Turkish Vowel Harmony:
e goes after: e i ö ü
a goes after: a ı o u
These are examples of e-type endings
-e = to, for
-den = from
-de = at, on, in
-le = by, with, using
-ce = according to
i goes after: e i
ı goes after: a ı
ü goes after: ö ü
u goes after: o u
These are examples of i-type endings:
-ci = denotes a person or occupation
-li = with, containing
-lik = -ness
-siz = without
Another way to think of the vowel harmony is the classic grammar explanation for Turkish Vowel Harmony:
The two sets of vowels belong to two families.
Front: e, i, ö, ü
Back: a, ı, o, u
Front vowels are call this because your tongue is at the front of your mouth when you pronounce the vowel.
Back vowels are called this because your tongue is at the back of you mouth when you pronounce the vowel.
Lets go back to our suffix for plural, ‘ler & lar’. Now try saying ‘ler’ out loud and concentrate where your tongue is, now try saying ‘lar’ out loud. ‘Ler’ pushes your tongue to the front of your mouth and ‘lar’ pushes your tongue to the back the back of your mout. Hence Front and Back vowels.
Don’t worry at first if you can’t remember the vowel harmony or forget you will still be understood and the more you practise the easier it will become.
How do you learn your Vowel Harmonies? have you any good tips? Please feel free to ask any questions on learning Turkish Vowel Harmony.
© 2014 – 2015, Kerry Arslan. All rights reserved.