Softening of consonants

Softening of consonants

In Turkish, there are certain consonants that are formed into the other letters when suffixes are added to them. When a suffix is added to a word that ends in "p/ç/t/k" and the consonant has a vowel both before and after it, the consonant will change:

                           P      --------->   B

                           Ç      --------->   C

                           T      --------->   D

                           K     --------->   G/Ğ

Examples:

(kasap) Ben bir kasabım - I am a butcher
(ekmek) Ekmeğim nerede? - Where is my bread?
(çiçek) Çiçeği aldın mı?  - Did you take the flower?
(damat) Damadı gördünmü - Did you see the groom?
(yüzük) Yüzüğünü çok beğendim  - Hakan ate the yogurt
(sonuç) Sonucu gördünmü- Did you see the result?
(köpek) Ali köpeğe et verdi - Ali gave meat to the dog.

The letter "k" is replaced by a "g" instead of a "ğ" when it has a "n" before it and a vowel after it:

(renk) Göz rengi - Eye color
(kepenk) Mehmet kepengi açtı - Mehmet opened the shutter

Exceptions

Generally, single syllable words don't have softening of consonant applied to them:

(top) Senin topun - Your ball
(koç) Çobanın koçu - The shepherd's goat
(süt) Sütü bana ver - Give me the milk

Words that are derived from other languages (French, English, Arabic or Persian) don't have softening of consonant too

(bilet) Biletinizi görebilirmiyim? - May I see your ticket?
(internet) İnterneti her gün kullanıyorum - I use the internet everyday

Private names of people or places also do not change:

(Tarık) Tarık'a kitap verdim - I gave Tarık a book.
(Haliç) Henüz Sinop'a ulaşmadık - We didn't arrive to Sinop yet.
(Tokat) Tokat'a gittik - We went to Tokat