The Kurmanji alphabet
Kurmanji is written in the Latin alphabet: 31 letters, 8 vowels, 23 consonants. Each letter has one sound and always the same one. There are no silent letters and no two-letter sounds — what is written is what you say.
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The 31 letters, in order
Kurmanji uses the Latin alphabet. It has 31 letters: 8 vowels and 23 consonants. A letter always keeps the same sound — no silent letters, no letter combinations to learn. Every example below is a word from the course.
| Letter | Sound | A word from the course |
|---|---|---|
| A a · vowel | a as in father | Almanya — Germany |
| B b | b as in book | beyanîbaş — good morning |
| C c | j as in jam | ciwan — young |
| Ç ç | ch as in chair | çawa yî? — how are you? |
| D d | d as in day | ders — lesson |
| E e · vowel | e as in bed | erê — yes |
| Ê ê · vowel | ay as in day, long | êvarbaş — good evening |
| F f | f as in fine | Franse — France |
| G g | g as in good, always hard | gelek — very / a lot |
| H h | h as in house, always sounded | ha — here / well |
| I i · vowel | a very short uh | Ingilîstan — England |
| Î î · vowel | ee as in see | Îtalya — Italy |
| J j | s as in measure | ji — from |
| K k | k as in key | kerema xwe — please |
| L l | l as in look | lê — but |
| M m | m as in moon | merheba — hello |
| N n | n as in night | na — no |
| O o · vowel | o as in go | oxir be — goodbye (reply) |
| P p | p as in pen | pir — very / a lot |
| Q q | a k made far back in the throat | Qamişlo — Qamişlo (Qamishli) |
| R r | a rolled r, as in Spanish | rojbaş — good day |
| S s | s as in sun, never z | silav — hello |
| Ş ş | sh as in ship | şevbaş — good night |
| T t | t as in table | tu — you (one person) |
| U u · vowel | a short oo | tu — you (one person) |
| Û û · vowel | oo as in moon | û — and |
| V v | v as in voice | vexwarin — to drink |
| W w | w as in water | welat — country |
| X x | like Spanish j, a scraped h | xwendekar — student |
| Y y | y as in yes | yek — one |
| Z z | z as in zero | zarok — child |
Try it now
Three questions on what you have just read. One minute, no account — and the whole course is free behind it.
Not that one — try again.
ş is the “sh” of şev, the night. s stays an s, c sounds “j”, ç sounds “ch”.
ker is the donkey; kêr, with the hat, is the knife. The hat changes the word.
One letter, one sound. That is why reading Kurmanji takes an evening.
Three right answers, one minute.
The course has 1096 of them — and all of it is free.
Carry on for freeThe answers are in the course, and the course is free. Start free
The eight letters that surprise
Most letters read as you would expect. Eight do not — and they are the ones that change how you sound.
| Letter | Sound | A word from the course |
|---|---|---|
| C c | j as in jam | ciwan — young |
| Ç ç | ch as in chair | çawa yî? — how are you? |
| J j | s as in measure | ji — from |
| Q q | a k made far back in the throat | Qamişlo — Qamişlo (Qamishli) |
| Ş ş | sh as in ship | şevbaş — good night |
| W w | w as in water | welat — country |
| X x | like Spanish j, a scraped h | xwendekar — student |
| Y y | y as in yes | yek — one |
The eight vowels, and the hat
Kurmanji separates short vowels from long ones. The circumflex — the hat — marks the long one: ê î û. It changes the meaning of a word; it is not decoration.
| Letter | Sound | A word from the course |
|---|---|---|
| A a | a as in father | Almanya — Germany |
| E e | e as in bed | erê — yes |
| Ê ê | ay as in day, long | êvarbaş — good evening |
| I i | a very short uh | Ingilîstan — England |
| Î î | ee as in see | Îtalya — Italy |
| O o | o as in go | oxir be — goodbye (reply) |
| U u | a short oo | tu — you (one person) |
| Û û | oo as in moon | û — and |
Typing ê î û ş ç on a keyboard
Five characters are missing from an English keyboard: ê î û ş ç. The simplest way is to copy them once:
ê î û ş ç · Ê Î Û Ş Ç
Windows, macOS, Android and iOS all offer a Kurdish (Latin) keyboard layout in the language settings, which puts these five keys within reach. In the course you do not need it: writing exercises accept the unaccented form.
Where this alphabet comes from
The Latin alphabet for Kurdish is called the Hawar alphabet, after the review Hawar in which it was published from 1932 in Damascus by Celadet Alî Bedirxan. It is the standard written form of Kurmanji: the one used in books, newspapers and in this course.
The other main Kurdish varieties are not written the same way: Sorani, spoken mainly in Iraq and Iran, uses an adapted Arabic script. A Kurmanji text and a Sorani text therefore look nothing alike, even where the words are close.
Next
Once you can read the letters, the rest opens up: the vocabulary reads aloud without hesitation, and the grammar fits in a handful of rules.
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