The 100 Most Common Turkish Words

These are the 100 most common Turkish words, ranked by how often they appear in real Turkish text and speech, drawn from published word-frequency research. Frequency-first learning works: a small core of high-frequency words does most of the work in everyday sentences, so mastering this list with spaced repetition gives you the fastest possible start.

#	Word	Pronunciation	English meaning
1	bir	beer	one
2	bu	boo	this
3	ve	veh	and
4	olmak	ohl-MAHK	be
5	ben	ben	I
6	için	ee-CHEEN	for
7	o	oh	he / she
8	ne	neh	what
9	gibi	gee-BEE	like
10	daha	dah-HAH	more
11	çok	chohk	many
12	ama	AH-mah	but
13	yapmak	yahp-MAHK	make
14	var	var	there is (exists)
15	ki	kee	that (conjunction)
16	sen	sen	you
17	demek	deh-MEK	say
18	kendi	ken-DEE	own
19	gelmek	gel-MEK	come
20	istemek	ees-teh-MEK	want
21	bilmek	beel-MEK	know
22	yok	yohk	to not exist
23	sonra	SOHN-rah	then
24	almak	ahl-MAHK	take
25	iyi	ee-YEE	good
26	gün	gewn	day
27	iki	ee-KEE	two
28	vermek	vehr-MEK	give
29	bakmak	bahk-MAHK	look
30	zaman	zah-MAHN	time
31	kadar	kah-DAR	until
32	gitmek	geet-MEK	go
33	her	hehr	each
34	biz	beez	we
35	görmek	gur-MEK	see
36	şey	shey	thing
37	en	en	most
38	insan	een-SAHN	person
39	yıl	yuhl	year
40	nasıl	NAH-suhl	how
41	siz	seez	you
42	bütün	bew-TEWN	whole
43	başlamak	bahsh-lah-MAHK	start
44	iş	eesh	work
45	çünkü	CHEWN-kew	because
46	büyük	bew-YEWK	big
47	yeni	yeh-NEE	new
48	bulmak	bool-MAHK	find
49	konuşmak	koh-noosh-MAHK	talk
50	sevmek	sev-MEK	love
51	ile	ee-LEH	with
52	de	deh	also, too (clitic)
53	ancak	AHN-jahk	however; only
54	önce	URN-jeh	before, first
55	şimdi	SHEEM-dee	now
56	etmek	et-MEK	do (light verb)
57	söylemek	soy-leh-MEK	say, tell
58	çıkmak	chuhk-MAHK	go out, leave
59	durmak	door-MAHK	stop; stand
60	geçmek	gech-MEK	pass
61	kalmak	kahl-MAHK	stay, remain
62	anlamak	ahn-lah-MAHK	understand
63	düşünmek	dew-shewn-MEK	think
64	çalışmak	chah-luhsh-MAHK	work; try
65	yaşamak	yah-shah-MAHK	live (be alive; reside)
66	dünya	DEWN-yah	world
67	ülke	EWL-keh	country
68	yer	yehr	place
69	ev	ev	house, home
70	yol	yohl	way, road
71	el	el	hand
72	göz	gurz	eye
73	baş	bahsh	head; beginning
74	çocuk	choh-JOOK	child
75	kadın	kah-DUHN	woman
76	adam	ah-DAHM	man
77	hayat	hah-YAHT	life
78	su	soo	water
79	kapı	kah-PUH	door
80	anne	AHN-neh	mother
81	baba	bah-BAH	father
82	arkadaş	ar-kah-DAHSH	friend
83	söz	surz	word; promise
84	ad	ahd	name
85	gece	geh-JEH	night
86	sabah	sah-BAH	morning
87	hafta	hahf-TAH	week
88	ay	ahy	month; moon
89	saat	sah-AHT	hour; clock
90	küçük	kew-CHEWK	small
91	uzun	oo-ZOON	long
92	güzel	gew-ZEL	beautiful, nice
93	kötü	kur-TEW	bad
94	doğru	doh-ROO	correct; straight
95	gerek	geh-REK	necessary; need
96	belki	BEL-kee	maybe, perhaps
97	hiç	heech	never; (not) at all
98	böyle	BOY-leh	like this, such
99	bugün	boo-GEWN	today
100	sadece	SAH-deh-jeh	only, just

Show all 100 wordsShow the first 20

Ranked by lemma frequency in published Turkish corpus research; proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Pronunciation is a respelling guide, not phonetic notation.

Turn this list into flashcards Learn Turkish online How spaced repetition works

Frequently asked questions about Turkish words

How many Turkish words do you need for a basic conversation?

Frequency research shows the 1,000 most common words cover roughly 85 percent of everyday speech, and the top 100 alone appear in almost every sentence. You can manage simple exchanges with a few hundred words; this list is the foundation to build on.

What is the fastest way to memorize these 100 words?

Spaced repetition: review each word just before you would forget it, at growing intervals. It moves vocabulary into long-term memory far faster than rereading a list. Turn the 100 words into flashcards and review a small batch daily; the whole list fits into two to three weeks.

Are 100 words enough to speak Turkish?

No. One hundred words let you recognize the skeleton of most sentences, but not hold a real conversation. They are the right starting point: after this list, grow toward the most common 1,000 words and start speaking practice early, even with simple phrases.

Where does this Turkish word list come from?

From published Turkish word-frequency research: lemma-ranked corpus lists cleaned for learners, with proper nouns, numbers, and duplicates removed. Rankings are approximate, since real usage varies by region and register, but the core is stable across corpora.