Abdullah: Meaning, Origin and Pronunciation
Abdullah is a boy’s name of Arabic origin. It means “servant of God”.
About the name Abdullah
- Meaning
- servant of God
- Origin
- Arabic
- Arabic ʿabd “servant” + Allāh.
- Gender
- Male
- Pronunciation
- ahb-dool-lah
How to pronounce Abdullah
Turkish spelling is phonetic: every letter is pronounced, and each letter always has the same sound. Our respellingahb-dool-lah is an approximation for English speakers. Turkish stresses syllables much more evenly than English, so avoid hitting one syllable hard. Tap the letters below for tips.
Letters English doesn’t haveFamiliar letters with a Turkish twist
- h
h is always pronounced
Turkish h is never silent, even before a consonant or at the end of a word: you hear it in Mehmet, Ahmet and Nuh.
Hear h in the alphabet tool →
Practice the sounds in the Turkish alphabet tool or readhow to pronounce i, dotless ı and soft g.
Abdullah with Turkish suffixes
Turkish adds case endings where English uses prepositions. With a personal name the ending is separated by anapostrophe (Abdullah'a, Abdullah'ın), but it is still pronounced as one word. The apostrophe only marks where the name ends; the suffix itself follows the usual rules.
The last vowel of Abdullah is a, a back unrounded vowel. So two-way suffixes take a and four-way suffixes takeı (vowel harmony):Abdullah'ta, Abdullah'ı.
Because Abdullah ends in a consonant, vowel-initial endings attach directly (Abdullah'ı, Abdullah'a) with no buffer letter.
The final consonant is voiceless (one of the “Fıstıkçı Şahap” letters f, s, t, k, ç, ş, h, p), so the d of the locative and ablative endingshardens to t:-ta and -tan: Abdullah'ta, Abdullah'tan.
| Case | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Accusative (object) | Abdullah'ı | Abdullah'ı tanıyor musun? Do you know Abdullah? |
| Dative (to) | Abdullah'a | Abdullah'a bir mesaj yazdım. I wrote a message to Abdullah. |
| Locative (at / with) | Abdullah'ta | Anahtarlar Abdullah'ta. Abdullah has the keys. (lit. The keys are at Abdullah.) |
| Ablative (from) | Abdullah'tan | Abdullah'tan bir hediye aldım. I got a present from Abdullah. |
| Genitive (’s) | Abdullah'ın | Bu Abdullah'ın çantası. This is Abdullah’s bag. |
| Instrumental (with) | Abdullah'la | Dün Abdullah'la konuştum. I talked with Abdullah yesterday. |
Forms are generated by TurkLogic’s tested grammar engine. See every case explained in theTurkish noun cases guide, or check the harmony of any word in thevowel harmony calculator.
Related names
More male names of Arabic origin
Frequently asked questions
What does the name Abdullah mean?
Abdullah is a Turkish boy’s name meaning “servant of God”. Its origin is Arabic. Arabic ʿabd “servant” + Allāh.
How do you pronounce Abdullah?
Say it roughly as “ahb-dool-lah”, keeping every vowel short and clear. Turkish h is never silent, even before a consonant or at the end of a word: you hear it in Mehmet, Ahmet and Nuh.
How do you add suffixes to Abdullah in Turkish?
Because Abdullah is a proper name, case endings go after an apostrophe and follow vowel harmony: Abdullah'a (to Abdullah), Abdullah'ın (Abdullah’s), Abdullah'ta (at Abdullah’s) and Abdullah'la (with Abdullah).
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