Turkish Phrases for Tourists: 70 Basics with Easy Pronunciation

Ten Turkish phrases for tourists cover most of a holiday: merhaba (hello), teşekkürler (thanks), lütfen (please), evet / hayır (yes / no), ne kadar? (how much?), hesap lütfen (the bill, please), affedersiniz (excuse me), nerede? (where is?), anlamıyorum (I don't understand) and kolay gelsin (a friendly "may it be easy" for anyone at work). Learn those, add the 60 or so below for taxis, shops, restaurants and emergencies, and you will get a visibly warmer reaction in Istanbul, Cappadocia or a beach town.

The good news for English speakers is that Turkish is spelled exactly as it sounds. Once you know eight letters, you can read any sign, menu or tram stop out loud correctly, which is more than you can say for English. The tables below give each of these Turkish phrases for tourists in Turkish, a simple "say it like" guide and the meaning. The pronunciation guides are approximations written for English speakers; our guides in Istanbul use the same tricks when they teach guests on the first morning of a tour.

How to pronounce Turkish: the 8 letters that matter

Turkish has no silent letters, except one that is nearly silent. Every other letter is pronounced the same way every time. These are the ones that trip English speakers:

Two more rules make everything easier. First, the stress usually falls on the last syllable: ar-ka-daş (friend), mer-ha-BA. Place names are the exception, which is why locals say IS-tan-bul with the weight on the first syllable, or simply "Stanbul". Second, every vowel is pronounced: Beşiktaş is besh-eek-tash, Kadıköy is kah-duh-koy, Üsküdar is ews-kew-dar.

Turkish phrases for tourists: greetings and politeness

If you learn only one table, learn this one. Turkish politeness has a few set phrases that have no direct English equivalent, and using them signals that you have made an effort.

A small but useful detail: teşekkürler is what most people say day to day. Sağ olun sounds friendlier and is common with shopkeepers and drivers. When someone says "teşekkürler" to you, the answer is rica ederim, or simply ne demek (not at all).

Phrases Turks use that English does not have

These are the phrases that make a Turkish shopkeeper smile, because tourists almost never use them. They carry social meaning rather than literal content.

If you take one phrase from this page into the Grand Bazaar, take kolay gelsin. Said on the way into a shop, it sets a friendly tone before any price is mentioned.

Turkish phrases for restaurants and cafés

Menus in tourist areas of Istanbul usually have English, but the people serving you often speak less of it than the menu suggests, especially in neighbourhood places in Kadıköy, Fatih or Balat. These phrases cover a whole meal, from sitting down to paying.

Asking for the bill with a small writing gesture in the air works everywhere, but hesap lütfen is faster. Service charges are rarely added to the bill in Turkey; a tip of 5 to 10 percent is normal in sit-down restaurants, and our guide to tipping in Turkey explains the rest. If you would rather eat with someone who orders for you, our Istanbul street food tour ($90) is the easy way to try twenty things without a dictionary.

Shopping and bargaining phrases

In shops with price tags, which means most of the city, you pay the marked price. In the Grand Bazaar, carpet shops and souvenir stalls, polite bargaining is expected. These phrases do the work:

Bags at supermarkets cost a small fee, so poşet is a word you will use. Ask for a fiş (receipt) on large purchases if you want to reclaim VAT at the airport. Before you start, read our Grand Bazaar guide to gates and bargaining, which includes how far prices usually move.

Numbers, prices and money

Prices in Turkey are in Turkish lira (TL, written ₺). Many hotels and tour companies, ours included, quote in dollars or euros, but markets, taxis, ferries and cafés use lira. Hearing a number is easier if you know the basic Turkish words that build every price:

Numbers are built like Lego: 150 is yüz elli, 250 is iki yüz elli, 1,500 is bin beş yüz. If a number goes past you, say yazar mısınız? (yah-zar muh-suh-nuhz, "could you write it?"). Phone calculators are the universal fallback in the bazaar. For where to change money and which cash machines charge fees, see our guide to exchanging money in Istanbul.

Taxi, tram and getting around

Most problems tourists have with Istanbul taxis are about the meter or the route, and two phrases prevent most of them.

On a dolmuş, the shared minibus, you say inecek var loudly when you want to get off, and the driver pulls over at the next safe spot. On trams and ferries you tap your İstanbulkart and say nothing at all. Signs that help: Çıkış (exit) in every metro station and Giriş (entrance) at museum gates.

At the hotel, hamam and mosque

A few situations have their own vocabulary. At the hotel you will hear oda (room), anahtar (key) and kahvaltı (breakfast); kahvaltı saat kaçta? (kah-val-tuh sa-at kach-ta) asks what time breakfast is. In a hamam, the attendant who scrubs you is the natır for women and the tellak for men, and yavaş, lütfen (ya-vash, lewt-fen, "gently, please") is the most useful phrase in the building.

At a mosque, the words you need are on signs rather than in conversation: Ziyaretçi girişi marks the visitor entrance, and namaz vakti means prayer time, when the visitor door is closed. Women can ask for a head covering with örtü var mı? (ur-tew var muh). On toilet doors everywhere, Bay means men and Bayan means women, and WC or Tuvalet marks the way. For when the doors close at the Blue Mosque, our guide to Blue Mosque visiting hours has the prayer timetable.

When you need help

You will probably never use these, but they belong on your phone just in case. Turkey uses one emergency number, 112, for ambulance, police and fire.

Pharmacies (eczane, with a red E sign) are everywhere, and pharmacists often speak some English. Our page on hospitals and pharmacies in Istanbul for tourists lists the hospitals with English-speaking emergency rooms.

How much English is spoken, and how much Turkish you need

In the Old City, Galata, Karaköy, the big hotels and every museum ticket desk, you can manage in English. Tour guides in Turkey must pass a licence exam that includes their working language, so a licensed guide is fluent. Outside the tourist core, on the Asian side, in local restaurants, in taxis and in small towns in Cappadocia, English drops off fast, and a few Turkish words become genuinely useful rather than just polite.

The realistic goal is not conversation. It is the ten Turkish phrases for tourists at the top of this page, the numbers up to a thousand and the restaurant table. That takes about an hour with a pronunciation video and pays back every day of the trip. A translation app with offline Turkish downloaded covers the rest, and a local SIM or eSIM keeps it working; see our guide to the Istanbul SIM card for tourists.

Travelling from abroad

Visitors from the UK, Germany and most of the EU can enter Turkey visa-free for short stays, while travellers from India and some other countries need an e-visa; check your passport in our country-by-country update on Turkey visa rules for 2027. Whatever your passport, Turkish is the one language every Turk shares, and a guide who speaks yours makes the first days easier. We arrange private Istanbul tours with licensed guides in English, German, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, French and other languages; all options are on our Istanbul tours page, and the Istanbul destination guide covers the city district by district.

Frequently Asked Questions