Alphabet and sounds
Turkish uses the Latin alphabet with 29 letters and is written as it is pronounced, so once you know the sounds you can read almost any word aloud. The letters that are new for most learners are ç, ğ, ı, ö, ş and ü, and c, which sounds like the j in 'jam'.
The first lessons spend time on the 8 vowels (a, e, ı, i, o, ö, u, ü), because they carry the whole system of endings. Getting ı and i, or ö and ü, clearly apart early saves a lot of confusion later.
Vowel harmony and endings
Turkish builds meaning by adding endings to a word: ev (house), evler (houses), evlerde (in the houses). The vowel in the ending changes to match the last vowel of the word, which is called vowel harmony: evler but kitaplar, evde but okulda.
Beginners do not need to memorise tables on day one. You meet harmony through a few useful endings, the plural -ler/-lar and the location -de/-da, and the pattern becomes automatic through repetition in speech.
What you say in your first lessons
- Greetings and courtesy: Merhaba, Günaydın, Nasılsınız?, Teşekkür ederim, Lütfen.
- Introducing yourself: Benim adım..., ...'liyim (where you are from), and asking the same of others.
- Numbers from 1 upwards, used for prices, phone numbers, ages and times.
- Asking for things: Bir çay, lütfen. Ne kadar? Nerede?
- The simple present tense for daily routines: Her gün çalışıyorum, Türkçe öğreniyorum.
A realistic plan for the first weeks
- Before you start: take the free placement test or book the free 15-minute trial lesson to check Zoom and your starting point.
- Weeks 1 and 2: alphabet, sounds, greetings, introducing yourself, numbers. Read every new word aloud.
- Weeks 3 and 4: plural and location endings, asking where things are, talking about your family and home.
- Weeks 5 and 6: the present continuous for daily routines, telling the time, simple questions and answers about your day.
- Every day: 10 to 15 minutes of review in the RTS Plus app and a short speaking exchange with Eda, the AI practice partner.
- This is a guide to the order of topics, not a promise of a level in a fixed time; your pace depends on how often you study and practise.
Materials for beginners
Royal Turkish Schools teaches with its own Pusula coursebooks. Level A1 comes in two books, and every listening exercise has free audio through a QR code, so you can hear each word and dialogue from the first page.
The RTS Plus app has lessons that follow the same units as the books, which makes it easy to review exactly what you covered in class. Eda, the AI conversation partner in the app, lets you practise short dialogues with 10 free messages per day.
Group or private as a beginner
A small group at A1 (at most 8 students, €99 per week for 10 lessons) gives you a steady rhythm and classmates who are learning the same things. A group opens once at least 2 beginners have booked.
Private lessons (from €140 for 5 lessons of 50 minutes) suit beginners with irregular schedules or who prefer to make their first mistakes with only the teacher listening. They can be scheduled any day, including evenings and weekends, in your time zone. There is no registration fee for online courses.