Turkish A1: vowel harmony — the rule that makes every ending predictable

Turkish builds words by gluing endings on. Ev is house. Evler is houses. Evlerde is in the houses. Every ending you will ever learn arrives with a vowel that changes to match the word it attaches to — and that change is not random. It is one rule, applied everywhere, and it is the single highest-value thing to learn first.

Turkish vowels split by where your tongue sits.

Say a and then e. Your tongue moves forward. That is the whole distinction.

The rule: an ending copies the group of the last vowel in the word. Back word, back vowel in the ending. Front word, front vowel.

The plural is -ler or -lar. Which one is never a choice.

Say them aloud. Kitapler is physically awkward — your mouth has to travel. Turkish is arranged so it never has to.

Some endings have four forms, not two, because they also copy rounding — whether your lips are round.

The "my" ending is -im / -ım / -um / -üm:

Notice kitap became kitab-. That is a separate rule (a final p softens to b between vowels) and you will meet it constantly with p, ç, t, k.

Every ending in Turkish — plural, possessive, case, tense, question — harmonises. Learn "the plural is -ler/-lar" and you have learned one ending. Learn harmony and you have learned how all of them behave, including ones you have not met.

Try the plural and "my" form of each before you check. That is what the practice game drills.

Compound and loan words. Otobüs (bus) ends in ü, so otobüsler. Loanwords mostly behave, but a few do not — saat (hour) takes front endings: saatler.

The last vowel, not the first. Televizyon has e, i, o — only the o matters: televizyonlar.