Consonant harmony

Harmony in life is important, and it's especially important in the Tatar language. If you've missed our post about vowel harmony, I recommend you read it too, as these concepts are essential.

In accordance with the principle of consonant harmony, consonants undergo the following phonetic changes.

🌷 Consonant variation in suffixes

A rather large group of Tatar suffixes have two variants, one beginning with the voiced consonants d, g, or ğ, the other beginning with their voiceless correlatives t, k, or q.

Stems ending in a voiced consonant or a vowel require these suffixes to appear in their voiced form. Stems ending in a voiceless consonant require their voiceless variant: 

Qazanda (in Kazan), Qazanğa (to Kazan)

bülmədə (in the room), bülməgə (into the room), bülmədən (from the room)

uynadı, uynağan (played)

tawda (on the mountain), tawğa (to the mountain), tawdan (from the mountain)

tışta (outside (where)), tışqa (outside (where to)), tıştan (from the outside)

The initial d of the ablative suffix -dan, -dən and the initial l of the plural suffixes -lar, -lər change to n when these suffixes are joined to stems ending in any of the three nasals m, n, ñ: 

uramnan (from the street), uramnar (streets)

Qazannan (from Kazan), kilgənnər (they came)

tañnan (from the dawn)

🌷 Consonant variations in stems

Final k, p, q change to g, b, ğ if followed by a suffix beginning with a vowel or r:

k-g: cilək (strawberry) – ciləge (his/her/its strawberry) 

küzlek (glasses) – küzlege (his/her/its glasses)

bik / bigrək (very)

p-b: kitap (book) – kitabı (his/her/its book)

məktəp (school) – məktəbe (his/her/its school)

küp (many) – kübrək (more)

q-ğ: ayaq (foot) – ayağı (his,her, its foot)

qaşıq (spoon) – qaşığı (his/her/its spoon)

nıq (steady) – nığraq (steadier)

🌷 Phonetic consonant variations

The consonant variations k-g, q-ğ, p-b, n-ñ also occur phonetically in rapid speech before a vowel or r:

aq alyapqıç [ağalyapqıç] – white apron

taləp itte [taləbitte] – he demanded

bik rəxət [bigrəxət] – very nice

min qayttım [miñqayttım] – I returned

The consonant z before s is pronounced as s. For example: 

tigezsezlek [tigessezlek] – inequality

tozsız [tossız] – saltless

The consonant n before the initial q-ğ, k-g phonetically changes to ñ. For example: 

borınğı [borıñğı] – ancient

The consonant n before b or m is often pronounced as m. For example: 

unber [umber] – eleven

unbiş [umbiş] – fifteen

un minut [umminut] – ten minutes

ozın mıyıq [ozımmıyıq] – long moustache

The consonant l after n, ñ, m can be pronounced as n:

tıñla [tıñna] – listen

təmle [təmne] – tasty