100 Essential Turkish Words for Beginners (with English Translations)

Greetings & basics

16 words

English	Turkish	Type
hello	merhaba	interjection
goodbye	hoşça kalın	interjection
yes	evet	interjection
no	hayır	interjection
please	lütfen	interjection
thank you	teşekkürler	interjection
sorry	özür dilerim	interjection
and	ve	conjunction
but	ama	conjunction
or	veya	conjunction
because	çünkü	conjunction
here	burada	adverb
there	orada	adverb
always	her zaman	adverb
never	asla	adverb
together	birlikte	adverb

People & family

14 words

English	Turkish	Type
man	adam	noun
woman	kadın	noun
boy	erkek çocuk	noun
girl	kız	noun
friend	arkadaş	noun
mother	anne	noun
father	baba	noun
brother	ağabey	noun
sister	kız kardeş	noun
son	oğul	noun
daughter	kız evlat	noun
child	çocuk	noun
husband	koca	noun
wife	eş	noun

Everyday verbs

16 words

English	Turkish	Type
to be	olmak	verb
to have	sahip olmak	verb
to do	yapmak	verb
to go	gitmek	verb
to come	gelmek	verb
to eat	yemek	verb
to drink	içmek	verb
to want	istemek	verb
to need	ihtiyaç duymak	verb
to know	bilmek	verb
to speak	konuşmak	verb
to read	okumak	verb
to write	yazmak	verb
to listen	dinlemek	verb
to work	çalışmak	verb
to buy	satın almak	verb

Describing words

10 words

English	Turkish	Type
good	iyi	adjective
bad	kötü	adjective
new	yeni	adjective
old	yaşlı	adjective
young	genç	adjective
tall	uzun	adjective
short	kısa	adjective
nice	hoş	adjective
kind	nazik	adjective
shy	utangaç	adjective

Colors

8 words

English	Turkish	Type
red	kırmızı	adjective
blue	mavi	adjective
green	yeşil	adjective
yellow	sarı	adjective
black	siyah	adjective
white	beyaz	adjective
orange	turuncu	adjective
purple	mor	adjective

Numbers

12 words

English	Turkish	Type
one	bir	number
two	iki	number
three	üç	number
four	dört	number
five	beş	number
six	altı	number
seven	yedi	number
eight	sekiz	number
nine	dokuz	number
ten	on	number
zero	sıfır	number
twenty	yirmi	number

Time

10 words

English	Turkish	Type
today	bugün	adverb
tomorrow	yarın	adverb
yesterday	dün	adverb
morning	sabah	noun
afternoon	öğleden sonra	noun
evening	akşam	noun
night	gece	noun
day	gün	noun
week	hafta	noun
month	ay	noun

Food & drink

10 words

English	Turkish	Type
water	su	noun
coffee	kahve	noun
tea	çay	noun
milk	süt	noun
bread	ekmek	noun
cheese	peynir	noun
fruit	meyve	noun
apple	elma	noun
egg	yumurta	noun
rice	pirinç	noun

Home

4 words

English	Turkish	Type
house	ev	noun
door	kapı	noun
window	pencere	noun
bed	yatak	noun

Emoji: Twemoji, CC-BY 4.0

Learn these Turkish words for good

Watch Your LanguageVocabulary widgets for iPhone & Apple Watch

A list is where learning starts, not where it ends. Watch Your Language puts Turkish words like these on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, so you see a few every time you check the time, and it schedules the repeats so the words you keep forgetting come back more often.

You can add your own words too, from a photo, a page of notes or a spreadsheet.

Keep going with Turkish

Turkish vocabulary by topicLonger word lists, one topic at a time Turkish quizTest yourself on what you have learned Turkish vocabulary testFind your level How long does Turkish take to learn?A realistic plan

Turkish for beginners questions

What are the first Turkish words to learn?

Start with the words you use every day: greetings, numbers, the days and times, food, family and a handful of verbs. For Turkish that means words like merhaba (hello), teşekkürler (thank you), su (water) and yemek (to eat). The list above groups 100 of them by topic.

How is Turkish written?

Turkish uses the Latin alphabet, so you can read the words above without learning a new script. 45 of the 100 words contain a letter or mark outside plain a–z, so learn those alongside the spelling.

Is 100 words enough to speak Turkish?

No. This is a starting set: enough to greet people, count, talk about time, name food and family, and say what you want or need. Conversation needs more words, and above all hearing and using them. Treat the list as the first step, then add words from topics you care about.

How do I remember these Turkish words?

Read a few at a time, say them out loud, and come back to them on a schedule rather than once. Watch Your Language puts words like these in a widget on your iPhone Lock Screen and on your Apple Watch face, and brings back the ones you keep forgetting more often.