Turkish for groups: dotted and dotless letters, vowel harmony and polite requests
Turkish lessons span A1 to C2 in reading, listening and writing. Learners distinguish dotted and dotless letters, read case-marked nouns in requests, and keep permission to exhibit a painting separate from permission to sell it.
Early lessons stay close to the page a newcomer meets first: a form with fields for province and nationality, signs in a clinic or pool, a note to a classmate, a booking or a return sent to a shop. Middle levels bring service emails, short reports to summarize and stories whose causes and sequence learners have to follow. At C1, a customer reply uses formal address to apologize for a late part and promise an update tomorrow, without inventing a delivery date. A reply to a close colleague switches to familiar address and offers to review a provisional roster together, without claiming it is finalized.
Learners who keep misplacing Turkish endings meet them in small, repeated frames, and each lesson's examples show which ending goes where and which words stay apart.
Lessons
48
Questions
389
writing questions
148
reading questions
161
listening questions
80
Levels
A1–C2
Script
Latin
What Turkish asks of an English speaker
Two letters i, each with its own capital
Turkish treats dotted i and dotless ı as separate letters, and the form lesson stresses that capitals keep the difference: İ is the capital of i, while I is the capital of ı. The same lesson lists the other pairs a learner must keep apart, c/ç, g/ğ, o/ö, s/ş, u/ü, and asks learners to copy names with that spelling intact.
i
dotted i
ı
dotless i
İ
capital dotted I
I
capital dotless I
c/ç, g/ğ, o/ö, s/ş, u/ü
plain letters and their marked counterparts
Place endings that follow the vowels
Where English uses a separate word for "in" or "at," Turkish adds an ending, and its vowel shifts to match the word it attaches to. The A1 exchange lesson writes İzmir’de and Bursa’da, with an apostrophe because the ending is on a city name. On ordinary nouns there is no apostrophe and the ending can begin with t, as in kafede and parkta from the A2 message lesson.
İzmir’de
in Izmir
Bursa’da
in Bursa
kafede
at the cafe
parkta
at the park
Which small words stand apart
Because so much grammar is attached as endings, learners must also learn what is not attached. The question particle in buluşalım mı is written as its own word, mı. The birthday wish İyi ki doğdun keeps ki separate. Ben de, "me too," keeps the word for "too" apart, while Yarınki, "tomorrow's," is written as one word.
buluşalım mı
shall we meet?
mı
question particle
İyi ki doğdun
happy birthday
ki
separate particle in the birthday wish
Ben de
me too / I also
Yarınki
tomorrow's
One ending for a friend, another for a clerk
A polite request changes with the person addressed. To one familiar friend the A2 message lesson writes getirebilir misin?, "could you bring?". To a service employee the transactions lesson uses misiniz instead, as in Faturayı e-postayla gönderebilir misiniz?, which the slide describes as addressing that employee respectfully.
getirebilir misin?
could you bring? (to a friend)
misiniz
polite question ending (respectful you)
Faturayı e-postayla gönderebilir misiniz?
Could you send the invoice by email?
Try two questions from the course
Both are taken unchanged from the Turkish lessons, with the explanation learners see after answering.
A1 · Exchange basic information in simple written interactions
Read the exchange: «Neye ihtiyacın var?» — «Bir kaleme ihtiyacım var.» What does the reply say?
B1 · Understand straightforward narratives and descriptions
Read the text: «Okan fotoğraf kursuna gelirken eski makinesini getirmişti. Derste pilinin bittiğini fark etti. Öğretmen kendi yedek makinesini ona verdi; Okan da ilk denemelerini bununla yaptı. Ders sonunda makineyi öğretmene geri verdi ve sonraki hafta için kendi pilini şarj etmeyi not etti.»
Which camera did Okan use during the lesson?
What each level covers
A1 Keep Turkish dotted and dotless letters distinct in names and capitals, attach place endings to city names with an apostrophe, and read form dates with the day first.
8 skills at A1
Recognize familiar words and basic phrases in short written texts
Understand basic spoken phrases when delivered slowly and clearly
Complete simple forms with personal information
Write very short simple personal messages
Understand simple written instructions supported by context
Recognize basic information in signs, notices, and schedules
Follow very simple spoken announcements
Exchange basic information in simple written interactions
A2 Use separate question particles in Turkish meeting messages, choose a familiar or respectful question ending, and use vowel-dependent place endings in café and park descriptions.
8 skills at A2
Understand short simple personal messages
Follow basic spoken information about everyday matters
Read simple public information and service texts
Write short everyday messages for practical purposes
Describe routine matters in simple connected writing
Handle simple written transactions
Understand simple directions and instructions
Extract key details from short factual texts
B1 Distinguish the Turkish case-marked permission to exhibit paintings from the refusal to sell them, and use the first-person future form when volunteering to take notes while a colleague presents.
8 skills at B1
Understand the main points of clear texts on familiar matters
Understand the main points of clear standard speech on familiar matters
Write connected texts on familiar topics
Express opinions, plans, and experiences in writing
Manage routine written correspondence
Understand straightforward narratives and descriptions
Follow straightforward presentations and media on familiar topics
Summarize factual information from straightforward texts
B2 In a Turkish workshop-registration discussion, keep online booking while proposing a limited morning phone slot, with parallel accusative infinitives serving as objects of the first-person proposal.
8 skills at B2
Read articles and reports that present arguments and viewpoints
Understand extended speech and presentations with clear structure
Write clear detailed texts on a range of subjects
Write reasoned arguments supporting a point of view
Participate effectively in written discussions
Understand specialized texts in familiar fields
Identify stance, tone, and implication in spoken discourse
Synthesize information from multiple written sources
C1 Read long and implicit texts, separate who makes a claim from whether the source backs it, and choose formal plural address for a customer but the familiar singular form for a friend.
8 skills at C1
Understand long complex texts across a range of domains
Understand extended speech with implicit meaning and complex structure
Write well-structured detailed texts on complex subjects
Adapt style, register, and conventions to purpose and audience
Manage complex written interactions fluently and appropriately
Understand implicit meaning, nuance, and rhetorical effect in written texts
Take effective notes from complex spoken input
Evaluate and synthesize information from complex written sources
C2 Read the criticism implied by a story's title, keep a source's irony when shortening it, and edit a test result so it no longer claims more scope than was tested.
8 skills at C2
Understand virtually all forms of written language
Understand virtually all forms of spoken language
Produce polished, effective texts for demanding purposes
Compose nuanced persuasive arguments
Handle demanding written exchanges with precision and flexibility
Interpret subtle pragmatic and cultural references
Critically synthesize diverse written and spoken sources
Edit and transform texts while preserving nuance and effect
Turkish with a group
In a Turkish session the host shows one item to all participants at once, such as a pool's price board, a message about a late arrival or a short report on a new bus line, for everyone to answer once they have joined with the room code. The host sees the pattern of errors across the room, for instance a missed vowel-harmony ending, without a public ranking of who got what. Yolango picks the next item to work on that weakness, and between sessions learners can continue on their own.
Yolango