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Turkish Vowel Harmony Chart (Printable PDF Cheat Sheet)

Vowel harmony decides the vowel of almost every Turkish suffix, so it is the one chart worth keeping next to your notebook. This sheet puts the whole system on a single page: the eight vowels sorted by front/back and rounded/unrounded, a lookup table from the last vowel of a word to the suffix vowel, and real examples for each row.

The examples are generated with TurkLogic's tested grammar engine, so every form on the sheet (evler, okulum, gözün, saatler) is exactly what the harmony rules produce. The bottom half lists the loanwords that break the pattern and the handful of suffixes whose vowel never changes, such as -yor and -ken.

Tip: choose "Save as PDF" as the printer to keep a copy on your phone or tablet.

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Turkish Vowel Harmony Chart

Which suffix vowel follows which word: 2-way (A = a/e) and 4-way (I = ı/i/u/ü) harmony

TurkLogic · A1

1 · The eight vowels

	Unrounded	Rounded
Back	a · ı	o · u
Front	e · i	ö · ü

Look at the last vowel of the word (stem + any suffixes already added). That vowel decides the next suffix.

2 · The two rules

2-way harmony · `A` = a / e

Back vowel (a ı o u) → a · Front vowel (e i ö ü) → e

-lAr, -DA, -DAn, -(y)A, -(y)lA, -mA, -sA, -(y)AcAk, -mAlI

4-way harmony · `I` = ı / i / u / ü

a ı → ı · e i → i · o u → u · ö ü → ü

-(y)I, -(n)In, -(I)m, -(s)I, -DI, -mIş, -(I)yor, mI, -lI, -sIz, -CI

3 · Lookup table: last vowel → suffix vowel

Last vowel	A	I	Word	Plural -lAr	Locative -DA	"my" -(I)m	Genitive -(n)In
a	a	ı	adam man	adamlar	adamda	adamım	adamın
ı	a	ı	kız girl	kızlar	kızda	kızım	kızın
o	a	u	yol road	yollar	yolda	yolum	yolun
u	a	u	okul school	okullar	okulda	okulum	okulun
e	e	i	ev house	evler	evde	evim	evin
i	e	i	deniz sea	denizler	denizde	denizim	denizin
ö	e	ü	göz eye	gözler	gözde	gözüm	gözün
ü	e	ü	gün day	günler	günde	günüm	günün

4 · Vowel-final words work the same way

Word	-lAr	-(y)I	-(I)m	-(n)In
araba	arabalar	arabayı	arabam	arabanın
kedi	kediler	kediyi	kedim	kedinin
kuzu	kuzular	kuzuyu	kuzum	kuzunun
ütü	ütüler	ütüyü	ütüm	ütünün

The final vowel of the word is the harmony vowel. Buffer letters (y, n) appear between two vowels.

5 · Verbs follow the stem's last vowel

Verb	-DI	-mIş	-(y)AcAk
yapmak	yaptı	yapmış	yapacak
kırmak	kırdı	kırmış	kıracak
koymak	koydu	koymuş	koyacak
bulmak	buldu	bulmuş	bulacak
gelmek	geldi	gelmiş	gelecek
bilmek	bildi	bilmiş	bilecek
görmek	gördü	görmüş	görecek
yürümek	yürüdü	yürümüş	yürüyecek

Exceptions 1 · Front-harmony loanwords

Some loanwords take front suffixes although their last vowel is back:

saat → saatler, saati · rol → roller, rolü · gol → goller, golü · kalp → kalpler, kalbi · hal → haller, hali

Exceptions 2 · Suffixes with a fixed vowel

-yor: geliyor, okuyor, yapıyor (only the vowel before -yor harmonises)
-ken: giderken, okurken · -leyin: sabahleyin, akşamleyin
-ki: evdeki, okuldaki (but bugünkü, dünkü) · -gil: annemgil

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Vowel Harmony Chart: FAQ

How do I use the vowel harmony chart?

Find the last vowel of the word in the left column. For a 2-way suffix (written with A, like -lAr or -DA) read the a/e column; for a 4-way suffix (written with I, like -(I)m or -(n)In) read the ı/i/u/ü column. Okul ends in u, so it takes -lar and -um: okullar, okulum.

Why does saat take -ler instead of -lar?

Some loanwords, mostly from Arabic and French, end in a "soft" l or t sound and take front-vowel suffixes even though their last vowel is back: saatler, saati; rol, roller; gol, golü. The sheet lists the most common ones.

Can I print this chart for my class?

Yes. The chart is free to print and photocopy for personal study and classroom use. Please keep the turklogic.com footer on the page.

How do I save the vowel harmony chart as a PDF?

Click "Print / Save as PDF", then choose "Save as PDF" (or "Microsoft Print to PDF") as the printer. The site header, menus and buttons are removed automatically, and the sheet fits A4 and US Letter paper. On a phone, use the share menu and choose Print.

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🧩 Turkish Vowel Harmony Chart (Printable PDF Cheat Sheet)