A. Why Should You Learn It?
It can be said that it is the most basic subject that you need to know about the grammar of Turkish, after Turkish vowel harmony. There is this rule (turkish consonant harmony) about the change of consonants so that the letters in a word are more harmonious and easier to pronounce. In this rule, the suffixes that are more suitable for the words are selected. Or words changes to be more melodious with suffixes. The suitable letter is determined by looking at the last letter of the word and the first letter of the suffix at these rules.
B. FIRST TURKISH CONSONANT HARMONY
A TIP!
Just before you learn what the turkish consonant harmony is, it will make your job easier to keep in mind the this idiom: fıstıkçı şahap Şahap is a male name. The phrase means “nutseller Şahap” Now pick just consonants from this phrase (fıstıkçı şahap): FıSTıKÇı ŞaHaP > f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p. We call these letters hard consonants. So now you know hard consonants.
About the turkish consonant harmony you should follow these 2 rules;
- If the last letter of the word is a hard consonant (f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p)
- And if the suffix will come end of the word starts with “c” or “d”
So, first letter of the suffix (c, d) changes a with “hard consonant“. You can think that the word changes the suffix and make it like itself to pronounce it easily and more melodiously. Here are which letter turns into which letter:
d > t
c > ç
sokak (street) / sınıf (class) / yavaş (slow) / Arap (Arabian) / İspanyol (Spanian) / Sabah (morning)
>Sokak – da > Sokakta (at the street) –> Changing between d > t
>Sınıf – da > Sınıfta (at the class) –> Changing between d > t
>Yavaş – ca > Yavaşça (slowly) –> Changing between c > ç
>Arap – ca > Arapça (Arabic) –> Changing between c > ç
>İspanyol – ca > İspanyolca (Spanish) –> There is no changing in the suffix (-ca) because the the word’s last letter is not a hard consonant!
>Sabah – a > Sabaha (to the morning) –> There is no changing in the suffix (-a) because the the suffix’s first letter is not “c” or “d”!
So e.g. if you use the suffix –dan it will be changed: sabah – dan > sabahtan (from the morning) You see difference!!!
C. SECOND TURKISH CONSONANT HARMONY
The change we are going to talk about now takes place in the root of the word, not in the suffix. Also contrary to the other rule, there is softening, not hardening. There are two conditions for this change to occur:
- If the last letter of the word is end with one of these letters: p, ç, t, k
- And if the suffix will come end of word start with a any vowel (a, e, ı, i, o, ö, u, ü)
So, the last letter of the word (root of the word) affected by the vowel of suffix changes and becomes more harmonious with it. Here are which letter turns into which letter:
p > b
ç > c
t > d
k > ğ
kitap (book) / ilaç (medicine) / kağıt (paper) / melek (angel) / ev (house) / yatak (bed)
>Kitap – ım > Kitabım (my book) –> Changing between p > b
>İlaç -ım > İlacım (my medicine) –> Changing between ç > c
>Kağıt – ım > Kağıdım (my paper) –> Changing between t > d
>Melek – im > Meleğim (my angel) –> Changing between k > ğ
>Ev – im > Evim (my house) –> There is no changing in the word (ev) because the the word doesn’t end with letters p, ç, t, k!
>Yatak – da > Yatakta ( at the bed) –> There is no changing in the word (yatak) because the suffix doesn’t start with a vowel!
So e.g. if you use the suffix -ım it will be changed: yatak – ım > yatağım (my bed) You see difference!!!
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