You don’t need to know every single Turkish word to communicate effectively. A good approach you can take is to learn the most common words. This way, you can talk about your daily-life, describe the world around you, and understand the main topics of a conversation. The basic Turkish words will then serve as building blocks, as you continue learning.

In this article, we categorized the most common Turkish words into nouns, adjectives, verbs, and more, to make it easier for you to remember them. Next to each word, you’ll find an audio recording, so you’ll learn how to pronounce the words as well. Let’s start!

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Table of contentsTurkish GreetingsPolite Words in TurkishThe Most Common Turkish NounsFood and Drinks in TurkishFamily in TurkishPlaces in TurkishTime-related Vocabulary in TurkishDescribing People in TurkishThe Most Common Turkish VerbsTurkish AdjectivesTurkish ColorsTurkish Subject PronounsTurkish Conjunctions and ConnectorsTurkish Question WordsBonus: Words You’ll Hear in Turkish Series All the TimeMix and Match These Words in Your SpeechTurkish Greetings

Greetings are usually your first words in any language, and Turkish is no exception. Here are different ways to say hello, goodbye, and how are you in Turkish:

English Turkish Audio “Hello” Merhaba “Hi” Selam “Good morning” Günaydın “Good evening” İyi akşamlar “Welcome” (informal) Hoş geldin “Welcome” (formal) Hoş geldiniz “See you later” Görüşürüz “How are you?” (informal) Nasılsın? “How are you?” (formal) Nasılsınız? “I’m fine” İyiyim Polite Words in Turkish

Use these phrases to sound kind and make a good impression. Besides your usual polite teşekkür ederim, which is thank you in Turkish, you’ll also find bonus phrases like “enjoy your meal” and “get well soon” below:

English Turkish Audio “Please” Lütfen “Thank you” Teşekkür ederim “Thanks” Teşekkürler “Thanks” (informal) Sağ ol “Sorry” Özür dilerim “Get well soon” Geçmiş olsun “Enjoy your meal” Afiyet olsun Literal translation: “Health to your hands”
(used when you want to compliment someone's cooking or handiwork) Elinize sağlık Literal translation: “May it be easy for you”
(a polite phrase used to acknowledge someone's work or effort) Kolay gelsin The Most Common Turkish Nouns

Word lists work best when you categorize words into groups.

Here are the most common Turkish nouns related to food, family, places, and more. You’ll most likely use these words daily, so learning these is a good way to get started with the language:

Food and Drinks in Turkish

Whether you’re shopping in the supermarket or reading a recipe, it’s likely that you’ll see these common food and drink words in Turkish:

English Turkish Audio “Food” Yemek “Drink” İçecek “Bread” Ekmek “Su” Water “Tea” Çay “Coffee” Kahve “Meat” Et “Fish” Balık “Chicken” Tavuk “Fruit” Meyve “Onion” Soğan “Pepper” Biber “Tomato” Domates “Cheese” Peynir “Milk” Süt “Egg” Yumurta “Pasta” Makarna

False friend alert: The word pasta in Turkish means “cake.” If you forget makarna (the Turkish word for “pasta”) and say pasta instead, you may end up with a cake!

Family in Turkish

Turkish distinguishes between paternal relatives (father’s side), maternal relatives (mother’s side), blood relatives, and relatives by marriage.

Don’t worry, the Turkish words for other family members aren’t as complicated!

English Turkish Audio “Mother” Anne “Father” Baba “Sibling” Kardeş “Older sister” Abla “Older brother” Abi “Spouse” Eş “Grandfather” Dede “Grandmother” Nene “Uncle” (paternal) Amca “Uncle” (maternal) Dayı “Uncle” (by marriage — husband of your relative or sibling) Enişte “Aunt” (maternal) Teyze “Aunt” (paternal) Hala “Aunt” (by marriage — husband of your relative or sibling Yenge Places in Turkish

Now let’s move on with the most common place names you’ll find in the city:

English Turkish Audio “House” Ev “School” Okul “Hospital” Hastane “Restaurant” Restoran “Hotel” Otel “Bank” Banka “Airport” Havaalanı “Train station” Tren istasyonu Time-related Vocabulary in Turkish

Words like “today,” “now,” or “tomorrow” help us talk about plans, activities, and events. Here are some important time-related Turkish words:

English Turkish Audio “Day” Gün “Week” Hafta “Month” Ay “Year” Yıl “Hour” Saat “Minute” Dakika “Second” Saniye “Morning” Sabah “Noon” Öğle “Evening” Akşam “Night” Gece “Today” Bugün “Yesterday” Dün “Tomorrow” Yarın “Now” Şimdi “Later” Sonra Describing People in Turkish

Let’s move on with words like “person,” “friend,” “woman,” or “man” that help us describe people:

English Turkish Audio “Person” İnsan “Friend” Arkadaş “Woman” Kadın “Man” Adam “Girl” Kız “Boy” Oğlan “Child” Çocuk “Baby” Bebek The Most Common Turkish Verbs

In the list below, we chose the most common Turkish verbs you’ll encounter and use in everyday conversations:

English Turkish Audio “To do/make” Yapmak “To come” Gelmek “To go” Gitmek “To know” Bilmek “To want” İstemek “To see” Görmek “To watch” Bakmak “To give” Vermek “To take” Almak “To say” Demek “To eat” Yemek “To drink” İçmek “To work/study” Çalışmak “To read” Okumak “To write” Yazmak “To speak” Konuşmak “To understand” Anlamak “To learn” Öğrenmek “To love” Sevmek “To find” Bulmak [image error]

Important: Turkish word order isn’t the same as English. In Turkish, the verb usually comes at the end of the sentence. It might feel strange at first, but you’ll get used to it!

For example, to say “I’m learning Turkish,” we’ll conjugate the verb öğrenmek and put it at the end of the sentence — so it’s Ben Türkçe öğreniyorum.

You may have also noticed that there aren’t any words for “to be” or “to have” in the list above. This isn’t a coincidence. These concepts are expressed as suffixes in Turkish. For example, “Ben öğretmenim” means “I am a teacher,” but there’s no separate word for “am.”

And instead of the verb “to have,” you would use the words var (“there is”) or yok (“there isn’t”) to express possession. For instance, Benim bir kedim var means “I have a cat.”

Turkish Adjectives

Want to add more color to your descriptions? Adjectives are your nouns’ best friends. Let’s explore some common Turkish adjectives and how to use them with nouns:

English Turkish Audio “Big” Büyük “Small” Küçük “Beautiful” Güzel “Ugly” Çirkin “Good” İyi “Bad” Kötü “New” Yeni “Old” (for objects) Eski “Young” Genç “Old” (for people) Yaşlı “Long/tall” Uzun “Short” Kısa “Hot” Sıcak “Cold” Soğuk “Easy” Kolay “Difficult” Zor “Fast” Hızlı “Slow” Yavaş “Expensive” Pahalı “Cheap” Ucuz

Turkish adjectives always come before the nouns. So now let’s combine some of the nouns we covered above with these adjectives:

Sıcak çay: “Hot tea”Soğuk su: “Cold water”Güzel ev: “Beautiful house”Yeni okul: “New school”Uzun gün: “Long day”İyi insan: “Good person”Pahalı restoran: “Expensive restaurant”Turkish Colors

Colors are some of the most common adjectives in any language. In Turkish, you’ll hear these colors all the time:

English Turkish Audio “Red” Kırmızı “Blue” Mavi “Yellow” Sarı “Green” Yeşil “White” Beyaz “Black” Siyah “Orange” Turuncu Turkish Subject Pronouns

Pronouns help you refer to people and things without repeating names. Here are the essential Turkish subject pronouns:

Ben: “I”Sen: “You” (singular, informal)O: “He/She/It”Biz: “We”Siz: “You” (plural or formal singular)Onlar: “They”Turkish Conjunctions and Connectors

Although they won’t mean much on their own, conjunctions are key to speaking any language fluently. With words like “and,” “but,” and “or,” you can connect different sentences together.

English Turkish Audio “And” Ve “But” Ama “Or” Veya “Because” Çünkü “If” Eğer Turkish Question Words

These question words will help you ask for clarification when you don’t understand what people say:

English Turkish Audio “What” Ne “Who” Kim “Why” Neden “How” Nasıl “Where” Nerede “Which” Hangi “When” Ne zaman Bonus: Words You’ll Hear in Turkish Series All the Time

If you’re a fan of Turkish dramas, these words will ring a bell. If not, why not watch some to practice your listening skills?

Here are some bonus words, mostly fillers and endearment words, that you’ll hear all the time:

English Turkish Audio “Yes” Evet “No” Hayır “Of course” Tabii ki “Sure” Olur “No way” Olmaz “Never” Asla “Oh my!” Aman! “Oh!” (surprise or disbelief) Yaa! “No way!” Yok artık! “Come on!” Hadi! “My dear” Canım “My love” Aşkım “God willing” İnşallah “I swear” Valla “Older brother”(also used as a respectful form of address people) Abi “Older sister” (also used as a respectful form of address people) Abla “Unfortunately” Maalesef Mix and Match These Words in Your Speech

We chose the words on this list on purpose — they’re words you’ll hear all the time. Whether you’re watching Turkish TV shows, listening to music, or chatting with native speakers, these words will pop up time and time again.

Once you hear them in context, you’ll be more likely to understand how to use them by yourself. Do check our content recommendations for learning Turkish to start practicing the common words today!

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