The fastest words to learn are the ones you see most. This deck lists the 60 most common Turkish words, each with a clear English meaning and a real example sentence. Study them below, or download the deck for Anki or Quizlet.
The best Turkish flashcards to learn first are the words you meet most often. This free deck pairs the 60 most common Turkish words, like ben, sen, o, with a plain English meaning and a real example sentence for each. Download it as a CSV for Anki or Quizlet, or learn the words in context by reading.
CSV columns are word, translation, example (with a header row). Ready to import into Anki, Quizlet, or any spaced-repetition app.
60 most common Turkish words · Updated July 2026
| Turkish | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ben | I | Ben öğrenciyim. |
| sen | you (singular, informal) | Sen nerelisin? |
| o | he, she, it; that | O her sabah kahve içer. |
| biz | we | Biz İstanbul'da yaşıyoruz. |
| siz | you (plural, formal) | Siz nasılsınız? |
| onlar | they | Onlar yarın geliyor. |
| bu | this | Bu benim kitabım. |
| ve | and | Ekmek ve su aldım. |
| ama | but | Yorgunum ama mutluyum. |
| çünkü | because | Eve gittim çünkü yorgundum. |
| için | for | Bu hediye senin için. |
| ile | with | Kahveyi süt ile içerim. |
| var | there is, there are; exists | Evde su var. |
| yok | there isn't, there aren't; none | Zamanım yok. |
| ev | house, home | Evim çok küçük. |
| su | water | Bir bardak su istiyorum. |
| ekmek | bread | Her gün ekmek alırım. |
| gün | day | Bugün hava çok güzel. |
| zaman | time | Zamanım çok az. |
| insan | person, human being | O çok iyi bir insan. |
| araba | car | Yeni bir araba aldım. |
| kitap | book | Bu kitabı çok sevdim. |
| okul | school | Çocuklar okula gidiyor. |
| iş | work, job | İşe geç kaldım. |
| para | money | Çok param yok. |
| yemek | food, meal; to eat | Yemek çok lezzetliydi. |
| kadın | woman | O kadın benim öğretmenim. |
| çocuk | child | Çocuk parkta oynuyor. |
| arkadaş | friend | Arkadaşımla sinemaya gittim. |
| aile | family | Ailemle birlikte yaşıyorum. |
| anne | mother | Annem her gün yemek pişirir. |
| baba | father | Babam bankada çalışıyor. |
| şehir | city | Bu şehri çok seviyorum. |
| saat | hour, clock, watch | Saat kaç? |
| iyi | good | Bugün kendimi iyi hissediyorum. |
| kötü | bad | Hava çok kötü. |
| büyük | big, large | Bu ev çok büyük. |
| küçük | small, little | Küçük bir kedim var. |
| yeni | new | Yeni bir telefon aldım. |
| eski | old, former | Bu eski bir bina. |
| güzel | beautiful, nice | Ne güzel bir gün! |
| çok | many, much; very | Seni çok seviyorum. |
| az | few, little | Bugün az uyudum. |
| uzun | long, tall | Bu çok uzun bir yol. |
| kısa | short | Saçların çok kısa. |
| sıcak | hot, warm | Çay çok sıcak. |
| soğuk | cold | Dışarısı çok soğuk. |
| olmak | to be, to become | Doktor olmak istiyorum. |
| yapmak | to do, to make | Ödevimi yapıyorum. |
| gitmek | to go | Yarın okula gitmiyorum. |
| gelmek | to come | Yarın bize gel. |
| görmek | to see | Seni görmek çok güzel. |
| bilmek | to know | Bu cevabı bilmiyorum. |
| istemek | to want | Bir kahve istiyorum. |
| sevmek | to love, to like | Kedileri çok severim. |
| almak | to take, to buy | Marketten süt aldım. |
| vermek | to give | Bana kalemini verir misin? |
| konuşmak | to speak, to talk | Türkçe konuşmayı öğreniyorum. |
| okumak | to read | Her akşam kitap okurum. |
| yazmak | to write | Ona bir mektup yazdım. |
Flashcards fix words in memory; reading teaches you to use them. Lingo7 lets you read real books in Turkish with sentence-aligned translation and native-narrated audio, and save any word to review later. Free to start.
The deck is built from high-frequency words, the ones that make up most of everyday Turkish. Learning them first gives you the biggest return per card, because you will meet them again and again the moment you start reading or listening.
Flashcards work best with spaced repetition: review a card, and if you knew it, wait longer before seeing it again. Anki and Quizlet both do this automatically. Download the CSV, import it, and review a few minutes a day. Keep the example sentence on the card so you learn how the word actually behaves, not just its dictionary gloss.
One honest limit: flashcards build recognition, but you learn to use a word by meeting it in real context. Pair this deck with reading. When a word you drilled shows up in a story, it stops being a flashcard and becomes part of the language. That pairing is what reading in Lingo7 is built for.
Best Turkish books for your level (A1 to C1) →
Not sure of your level? Take the Turkish CEFR test (A1 to C2) →
How long does it take to learn Turkish? See the timeline →
Start with the most frequent words. A few thousand high-frequency Turkish words cover the majority of everyday text, so each of those cards pays off far more than a rare one. This deck gives you the top 60 to begin with, each with a meaning and an example sentence, so you learn the word in context rather than in isolation. When a card sticks, meet the word again in a real book to lock it in.
Click Download CSV to save the deck, then in Anki choose File, Import and select the file. Map the first column to the front (the Turkish word) and the second to the back (the meaning); the third column holds an example sentence you can add to the back too. The first row is a header, so tell Anki to ignore it or delete that one card. For Quizlet, use Copy for Quizlet and paste into the import box with Tab between term and definition.
Flashcards are excellent for building recognition and drilling the first few thousand words, but on their own they teach words out of context. You learn to use Turkish, not just recognize it, by reading and hearing the words in real sentences. The efficient combination is flashcards for raw vocabulary plus reading for context, collocation and grammar. That is exactly what Lingo7 is built around.
Roughly 2,000 to 3,000 common words cover most everyday Turkish text, and around 5,000 gets you comfortably through many novels. You do not need all of them before you start: with sentence-aligned translation you can begin reading real Turkish at a couple of thousand words and pick up the rest from context. This deck is a fast way to front-load the most useful 60.