People and family in Turkish

140 words Turkish words on the topic “people and family”: arkadaş — friend, aile — family, anne — mom, baba — dad. 140 words can be played from recordings.

Updated September 1, 2026 · Lingofly

140 words on the topic

How it sounds in a sentence

A word list is a blank. Conversation is made of sentences, and these are the ones the words fit into most often.

What is worth knowing about these words

arkadaş — friend. From arka, "the back": literally "the one at your back". Both a buddy and a colleague; a close friend is a dost.

aile — family. An Arabic word, no harmony in the root. From it, ailece — "as a family": the tail -ce turns a noun into an adverb.

anne — mom. The ordinary word for mother, not baby talk — adults say it too. An older woman outside the family is teyze, "aunt", never anne.

baba — dad. Like anne, it suits child and adult alike. An older man outside the family is amca, "uncle". From it, babaanne — the grandmother on the father's side.

Test yourself

First by ear — the way you will meet the word in conversation. Click the speaker and pick the translation.

What is this word?
It is arkadaş — friend.
What is this word?
It is baba — dad.
What is this word?
It is müşteri — customer.
What is this word?
It is emekli — retiree.
What is this word?
It is insan — human.

Now the other way around: recall the spelling from the meaning. That is harder, and therefore more useful.

How do you say “friend” in Turkish?
From arka, "the back": literally "the one at your back". Both a buddy and a colleague; a close friend is a dost.
How do you say “dad” in Turkish?
Like anne, it suits child and adult alike. An older man outside the family is amca, "uncle". From it, babaanne — the grandmother on the father's side.
How do you say “customer” in Turkish?
An Arabic word. One word for the buyer, the client and the café regular.
How do you say “retiree” in Turkish?
emek is "labor", -li "with labor behind one". Not "a restee" but "one who has earned it".
How do you say “human” in Turkish?
A human as a being, a person in general; insanlar is "people". From it, insan hakları — "human rights".

How to learn the set instead of just reading it

Mum, friend, child, neighbour. The first thing people ask you about, and the first thing you tell about yourself.

A list is read in a minute and forgotten in a day. What works: hide the translation, try to recall, get it wrong — and come back to the same words tomorrow.

Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many times
Adesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
This holds not only in experiments but in ordinary classrooms, with real students.checked many times
Mawson & Kang, 2025, Behavioral Sciences 15(6):771 · 22 studies, d = 0.54 (confidence interval 0.31–0.77). The authors warn that individual studies disagree widely.

Frequently asked

How do you say “friend” in Turkish?

«arkadaş». From arka, "the back": literally "the one at your back". Both a buddy and a colleague; a close friend is a dost. It is one of 140 words in the set “people and family” — the rest are in the table above.

How many family words do you need to start?

A dozen is enough. The set of 140 words on this page covers nearly every everyday case on the topic — but it is best taken a few at a time, not all at once.

Is there audio?

Yes, 140 words on this page can be played — click the speaker next to the word. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.

People and family in Turkish

140 words on the topic

How it sounds in a sentence

What is worth knowing about these words

Test yourself

How to learn the set instead of just reading it

Frequently asked

How do you say “friend” in Turkish?

How many family words do you need to start?

Is there audio?

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