1. In compound words

a. The words that are names of "Road" [Yol] [transportation] are written seperately.

    Çevre yolu = peripheral highway

    Kara yolu   = Highway

    Deniz yolu  = Seaway, Sea route.

    Hava yolu   = Airway, Air route.

b. Space objects  that are in compound form must be written seperately;

Çoban Yıldızı = lodestar

Kutup Yıldızı = polar star

Kuy­ruklu Yıldız = stray comet

gök taşı  =  Meteorite

c. Organ names in body that are in compound forms must be written seperately.

elmacık kemiği;

serçe parmak,

şehadet par­mağı

yüzük parmağı

azı dişi,

köpek dişi,

süt dişi;

kuyruk sokumu,

safra kesesi;

d. Some time expressions that are in compound forms must be written seperately ;

gece yarısı --> midnight

gün or­tası  ---> midday

hafta başı ----> begining of the week [the first day of the week]

hafta sonu ----> weekend

2 . The intensified [over emphasized] words must be written as One word.

Dümdüz ---> Very straight [Straight ahead]

çırılçıplak ---> starkers [naked as a jaybird]

sapsarı  ---> Very yellow

kapkara  ----> jet black, Very black

büsbütün ------> altogether, entirely

3. The copulative verbs [ idi, imiş, ise ] can be written  seperately as well as one word [suffixed to the word ]

a. When they suffixed to the words that end with a consonant the vowel "i" drops and follows the vowel harmony ;

yorgun-du (yorgun idi)  ---> He/she/it  was tired.

güzel-miş [güzel imiş] -----> [I heard that, I was told that ] he/she/ it was beautiful.

gelir-se (gelir ise)  ----> If  he/she/it comes

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b. When they suffixed to the words that end with a vowel they take buffer "y" and "i" in copulative verbs drop and follows the vowel harmony.

sonuncu-y-du (sonuncu idi)

yabancı-y-mış [yabancı imiş]

ne-y-se (ne ise) 

4. " İken " which is an adverbial form of copulative verb can be attached onto the word or can be written seperately.

a. when attached onto the word "i" drops ;

çalışıyor-ken (çalışıyor iken)  ---> while [when] studying

okur-ken (okur iken)           -----> while [when] reading

uyur-ken (uyur iken)

yazar-ken (yazar iken)

geliyor-ken (geliyor iken)

öğretmen-ken (öğretmen iken)

What about baş-? It has an independent meaning ´head´ but it is often written as one word in compounds like

                    başbakan

                    başkent

                    başparmak

and there is even no POSS in the end.

5. When infinitives that end with -me,-ma takes -a / -e, -ı / -i  suffixes, the buffer "y" comes between them.

çalışma-y-a

darılma-y-ı

kalaylama-y-a

okuma-y-a

görme-y-i

gülme-y-i

sevme-y-e

silme-y-i

It should refer an ´organ´ başbakan and başkent do not refer an organ. When it comes to "başparmak " that must be exception I believe.

The rule for that exception is that ;

The adjective compounds that are formed with "baş " are written as One word ;

a.  başparmak

başağırlık,

başbakan,

başbayan,

başçavuş

başeser,

başfiyat

başhekim,

başhemşire

başkahraman

başkent

başkomutan

başköşe

başmüfettiş

başöğretmen

baş­parmak

başpehlivan

başrol

başsavcı

başyazar .

The thumb is the boss of the fingers.

6. The vowel or the wide vowel of the suffix that comes before "-a / -e, -acak / -ecek, -ayım / -eyim, -alım / -elim, -an / -en " suffixes  is written with  a / e  regardless of  their verbal ways.

written way                      Possible Verbal way

başlaya                                      başlıya

başlayacağım                          başlıyacağım

geleyim                                     geliyim

gelmeyelim                             gelmiyelim

başlayan                                  başlıyan

gelmeyen                               gelmiyen

7. The locative suffix   -da / -de / -ta / -te   is always written attached to word.

devede  kulak

yolda  kalmak

ayakta  durmak

işte  çalışmak

Yurtta sulh, cihanda sulh. (Atatürk)

Peace at home, peace in the world.

8. " İle " can be written  seperately as well as attached to the word.

a. When they suffixed to the words that end with a consonant the vowel "i" drops and it follows the vowel harmony ;

bulut-la (bulut ile)

çiçek-le (çiçek ile)

kuş-la (kuş ile)

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b. When they suffixed to the words that end with a vowel they take buffer "y" and "i" drops and it follows the vowel harmony.

arkadaşı-y-la (arkadaşı ile)

çevre-y-le (çevre ile)

sürü-y-le (sürü ile)

yapı-y-la (yapı ile)

9. The conjunction "ki" is written seperately.

bilmem ki

demek ki

kaldı ki

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* In couple of  exceptions the conjunction "ki" is attached to the word, it is because those words are in fixed  forms.

belki

çünkü

hâlbuki

mademki

meğerki

oysaki

sanki

10. The conjunction "da / de" is written seperately and it follows the vowel harmony.

Kızı da geldi gelini de.

Durumu oğluna da bildirdi.

Sen de mi kardeşim?

Güç de olsa.

Konuşur da konuşur.

* Conjunction "da/de" never changes into "ta/te"

*  "da" that is written with the word "ya"  is seperated.---> Ya  da [Or]

*  Apostrophe can NOT be used  with the conjunction "da/de" .

Ayşe de geldi --> [Ayşe has come too] ---> CORRECT

Ayşe´de geldi ---> [Ayşe has come too] ------> WRONG [because of "apostrophe"]

11. The question suffix " mı / mi / mu / mü "  is written  separately and follows vowel harmony.

Kaldı mı?

Sen de mi geldin?

Olur mu?

İnsanlık öldü mü?

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* The suffixes comes after question "mI" is written as attached.

Verecek misin?

Okuyor muyuz?

Çocuk muyum?

Gelecek miydi?

Güler misin ağlar mısın?

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Warning ;

In compound words the question suffix " mI"  can come into between two words ;

Vaz mı geçtin?

12. In the end or begining of the new line a single letter can not be left.

                        WRONG. 

.......................................................................................................... u-

çurtma değil.

                      CORRECT

......................................................................................................uçurt-

ma değil.

13. When apostrophe ends in the end of the line we just use apostrophe without dash ;

                         WRONG

.................................................................................................. Edirne’ -

nin...

                              CORRECT

.................................................................................................. Edirne’

nin...

14. In Turkish , a consonant that is between two vowels makes up a syllable with the next vowel.

araba ---> ara ---> a - ra - ba

insanın ---> anı ---> in - sa - nın

How are words like kahrolmak, sabretmek, kaybetmek etc. divided into syllables?

* In Turkish if two consonants comes next to next  then the first one makes syllable with its previous vowel, the second one makes syllable with its next vowel.

kahrolmak --->  h  joins to ka  --> kah

                      r   joins to ol   --> rol 

kah - rol - mak

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sabr etmek ---> b  joins to sa

                      r  joins to et

sab - ret - mek

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in the same way ;

kaybetmek

kay- bet - mek

So, no exceptions even though they consist of two parts. Thanks, tunci (for the whole thread, I´ve been following it all day, interesting things pop up).

No exceptions Abla. All words whether Pure Turkish or borrowed , they all are adjusted into Turkish syllable division rules.

* If we have three consonants comes next to next  then the first two consonants join to  previous vowel, the last one joins to  next vowel.

altlık --> "lt"  join to "a" ,  "l "  joins to "ık"   -----> alt - lık

Türkçe  ------>  Türk - çe

korkmak  -----> kork - mak

15. Even western origin words are adjusted into Turkish syllable rules.

bandrol -----> band-rol  [ 3 consonant rule]

kontrol -----> kont- rol [ 3 consonant rule]

  portre   -----> port-re  [ 3 consonant rule]

program -----> prog- ram [ 2 consonant rule]

santral   ------> sant- ral  [ 3 consonant rule]

  sürpriz -------> sürp - riz [ 3 consonant rule]

  volfram -----> volf-ram  [ 3 consonant rule]

16.  Words that are in reduplicated form are written separately.

adım adım

ağır ağır

akın akın

allak bullak

bata çıka

çoluk çocuk

düşe kalka

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* Reduplicated forms with "m" are also written separetely.

at mat

çocuk mocuk

dolap molap

kapı mapı

kitap mitap

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17. The loanwords that begin with double consonant are written  without adding a vowel between them.

francala

gram

gramer

grup

Hristiyan

kral

kredi

kritik

plan

pratik

problem

profesör

program

proje

propaganda,

pro­tein

prova

psikoloji

spiker

spor

trafik

tren

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Exception to this rule are seen in several loanwords ; In these words below a vowel is put to the begining or between the first two consonants ;

iskar­pin

iskele

iskelet

istasyon

istatistik

kulüp

18. The loanwords that has two or more consonants next to next in them are written  without adding a vowel between them.

alafranga

apartman

biyografi

elektrik

gangster

kilogram

orkestra

paragraf

tel­graf

I need to get all this to my notes to study when i am away from the PC.Tunci you always do make very informative threads. And don´t sell yourself short, I really think you do. Now that you´ve posted it I realize spelling(context) rules would be good to know.

And sorry I´ve been missing lately because of trying to focus on classwork, and have had to sadly neglect Turkish in order to ensure I pass this class, and i miss coming here as often and I miss my friends here. I hope that once this class finishes, in about half a week that I´ll have more time to come around and participate.

We missed you, too, Mavili.

Hoşgeldin Mavili. It is good to hear from you. You havent been around a while. You have been missed !! You are a very good genuine learner.  Hope to see you soon in Turkish Class..

19. In western origin words that end with double consonants  dont take vowel between the consonants.

film

form

lüks

modern

natürmort

psikiyatr

seks

slayt

teyp

20. In two western loadword the "g" softenes into "ğ".

fotoğraf

topoğraf

21. In Arabic origin words that are originally having double consonants in the end are written with a single consonant in Turkish. However , when those words takes a vowel or auxillary verb attached to them, then the consonant doubles.

hak [hakkı]

his [hissi]

ret [reddi]

şer [şerri]

tıp [tıbbı]

zam [zammı]

zan [zannı]

af [affetmek]

his (hissetmek]

22. In Turkish there are 21 consonant ;

      b, c, ç, d, f, g, ğ, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, ş, t, v, y, z

      They are divided into two group due to the condition of being vibrated in vocal cord when they are read ;

1. Soft consonants [consonants with tone, these consonants are read by vibrating vocal cords] ---> b, c, d, g, ğ, j, l, m, n, r, v, y, z

2. Hard consonants [ toneless consonants, these consonants are read without vibrating vocal cords] ----> ç, f, h, k, p, s, ş, t

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23. Original [pure] Turkish words do NOT take b, c, d, g  to their end. However in few words, to state the difference in the meaning they can take those consonants in writing language.

ad (name), at (horse)

od (fire), ot (grass,weed)

sac (flat iron), saç (hair).

23. In original forms of loanwords, the soft consonant in the end hardens in order to adapt them into Turkish phonetic.

  Original form                      Adapted form into Turkish

 kitab                                            kitap

sebeb                                             sebep

metod                                            metot

cild                                                cilt 

etüd                                               etüt

24. When those adapted loanwords take suffix that start with vowel the hard consonants softens.

kitap / kitabı

sebep / sebebi

bant / bandı

bent / bendi

cilt / cildi

etüt / etüdü

metot / metodu

standart / standardı

ahenk / ahengi

renk / rengi

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Warning ;

In some adapted loanwords the final consonant do NOT softens.

ahlak / ahlakın

cumhuriyet / cumhuriyete

evrak / evrakı

hukuk / hukuku

ittifak / ittifaka

sepet / sepeti

tank / tankı

25. When multisyllable words that have  p, ç, t, k  final consonant softens into b, c, d, ğ when take suffix that start with a vowel.

kelep / kelebi

ağaç / ağacı

kazanç / kazancı

geçit / geçidi

kanat / kanadı

başak / başağı

bıçak / bıçağı

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Warning ;

There are  some multisyllable words that are exception to this rule.

anıt / anıtı

bulut / bulutu

kanıt / kanıtı

ölçüt / ölçütü

26. The monosyllable words that have  p, ç, t, k  final consonant do NOT softens HOWEVER  there are some monosyllable words that are exception to this rule ;

but / budu

dip / dibi

gök / göğü

kap / kabı

kurt / kurdu

uç / ucu

yurt / yurdu

27. In Turkish, when the verbs that end with "a,e" vowels, "a" turns into " ı, u " and "e" turns into "i, ü "  in both verbal and written language.

başlıyor (<başla-yor),

oynuyor (<oyna-yor)

doymuyor (<doyma-yor)

izliyor (<izle-yor)

diyor (<de-yor)

gelmiyor (<gelme-yor)

gözlüyor (<gözle-yor]