The alphabet and spelling rules

The alphabet

Do you want to start your journey of learning Tatar, but you don’t know the Cyrillic alphabet? And the Latin one seems confusing with new letters you have no idea how to read? 

Which one do you use anyway?

Let me start with the short answer that there is no short answer. At different times, different writing systems were used for the Tatar language.

Arabic script was used until 1927 (some Tatar diasporas in China, Afghanistan and Iran still use Arabic script).

Latin alphabet was used in 1927-1939 (some attempts were made to revive the Latin alphabet at the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries).

Cyrillic alphabet has been used from 1939 to the present day. As you may know, this alphabet is most widely used by Tatars today, and the majority of learning and reading materials are written in Cyrillic. 

To transcribe the sounds, I will use the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) and you can click on the sounds in the [brackets] to listen to them yourself. The sounds that are identical or very close to the English ones are written in grey.

Aa is pronounced slightly differently depending on its position in the word. In the first syllable, it's pronounced as 

[ɒ] like in the English word "car" and in the rest of the syllables as [ɑ]. 

Ää/Əә is pronounced as [æ] like in the word "cat" 

There are two different ways of writing this letter in the Latin script. You can use whichever you like more, but since this letter occurs really frequently, some Tatar activists and I prefer using ә as it reduces the amount of dots in a word. 

Bb is pronounced as [b]

Cc is pronounced as [ʑ] like in "vision"

Dd is pronounced as [d] like in some Irish English accents

Çç is pronounced as [ɕ]

Gg is pronounced as [g] like in "game"

Ğğ is pronounced as [ʁ] like a french r

Hh is pronounced as [h]

Iı is pronounced as [ə] like in "bottom"

İi is pronounced as [i] like in "free" 

Jj is pronounced as [ʐ] and is used in loanwords

Kk is pronounced as [k]

Qq is pronounced as [q] 

Ll is pronounced as [l]

Mm is pronounced as [m]

Nn is pronounced as [n]

Ññ is pronounced as [ŋ] like in "song" 

Oo is pronounced as [ʊ] like "go" in Scottish English

Öö is pronounced as [ɵ] similar to "nurse" in British English 

Pp is pronounced as [p]

Rr is pronounced as [ɾ] like "three" in Scottish English 

Ss is pronounced as [s]

Şş is pronounced as [ʃ] like in "sheep"

Tt is pronounced as [t] like in some Irish English accents

Uu is pronounced as [u]

Üü is pronounced similar to [ʉ]  in "goose"

Vv is pronounced as [v]

Ww is pronounced as [w]

Xx is pronounced as [χ]  

Yy is pronounced as [j] like in "you"

Zz is pronounced as [z]

Spelling rules 

These spelling rules are partially based on Neo-alif by @bababashqort and partially on the Zamanalif. This Latin-based alphabet represents all the sounds that the Cyrillic-based one doesn’t. These rules are more relevant for those who transliterate from Cyrillic to Latin script because if you learn the latter, you probably won't need these rules in the first place (but pay attention to the rules 4-6 and 9).

1️⃣ The Cyrillic "ц" is transliterated as “ts”: 

цунами → tsunami 

"Сц" is transliterated just as “s” in the Latin spelling, “це” and “ци” as “se” and “si” respectively in loanwords: 

сценарий → senariy 

цент → sent 

цивилизация → sivilizasiya 

2️⃣ Letters “я, е, ю” at the beginning of a syllable are transliterated as "ya, yı, yu" if the syllable has a back vowel (ел → yıl), and as "yə, ye, yü" if the syllable has a front vowel (егерме → yegerme). 

3️⃣ “W” is written instead of the Cyrillic “в” and “y” as a semivowel at the end of the words: 

авыл → awıl 

тау → taw  

сөйләү → söyləw 

сайлау → saylaw 

💡 In Tatar, a vowel can not be followed by another vowel, except in the newest loanwords with the original spelling. 

4️⃣ When the letter “u” or “ü” is followed by a vowel, a “w” is put between the vowels: 

алуы → aluwı 

уу → uwu 

китүе → kitüwe 

көлүе → kölüwe 

💡 Exception: the imperative verb “у” (to scrub) is written as “uw”, not “u” 

5️⃣ Syllables "ка, га, ко, го, кый, гый, кы, гы, ку, гу" are spelled as "qa, ğa, qo, ğo, qıy, ğıy, qı, ğı, qu, ğu" if there are back vowels in the word: 

бака → baqa 

кояш → qoyaş 

чокый → çoqıy 

гына → ğına 

агу → ağu 

6️⃣ If the word has front vowels (in the Arabic and Persian loanwords), these syllables are spelled "qə, ğə, qö, ğö, qi, ği, qe, ğe, qü, ğü":  

гомер → ğömer  

кагыйдә → qəğidə  

кыйммәт → qimmət 

шөгыль → şöğel 

куәт → qüwət 

7️⃣ If at the end of a word with front vowels there is a "къ" or "гъ", "къ" transliterates as "q" and "гъ" as "ğ". 

нәкъ → nəq 

8️⃣ "Ь" is not transliterated in any way. 

9️⃣ The apostrophe ( ' ) indicates the glottal stop in certain loanwords, such as “Qör'ən”, “tə'sir” or “ma'may” 

💡 If no available fonts support the letter “Əə”, it can be replaced by “Ää” 

💡 The dot is used to indicate ordinal numbers: 

20. bittə – on page 20

8. bülektə – in section 8

💡 The following type of quotation marks is used: “ ”.