Dictate in Turkish on a Mac: setup, commands and dotted i

To dictate in Turkish on a Mac, open System Settings → Keyboard, go to Dictation (Dikte on a Turkish-language Mac), click Edit next to Languages, and select Turkish (Türkiye). Start Dictation and pick Turkish from the language shown next to the cursor. Apple lists Turkish for on-device dictation but not for automatic punctuation, so you say "nokta" and "virgül" yourself. Apple publishes a Turkish command list, and the Turkish Q and F keyboards are separate from Dictation.

The steps come from Apple's Dictate messages and documents on Mac for macOS 27 Golden Gate, and its Turkish edition, Mac'te iletileri ve belgeleri dikte etme. If your screen differs, search System Settings for "Dictation" or "Dikte".

How do you turn on Turkish dictation?

1. Choose Apple menu → System Settings, then click Keyboard (Klavye) in the sidebar.
2. Go to Dictation (Dikte) and turn it on.
3. Click Edit (Düzenle) next to Languages (Diller) and select Turkish (Türkiye).
4. Stay online while the Mac sets the language up. Apple's feature page says on-device dictation "Requires download of speech models."
5. In a text field, start Dictation with the Microphone key, your Dictation shortcut, or Edit → Start Dictation, and check that the language next to the cursor is Turkish.

If you also write in English, select it too. Switch by clicking the language next to the cursor, or press the Globe key (Dünya tuşu) and choose. Apple's guide describes switching by hand, not automatic detection of a language change.

Which Turkish dictation features does Apple list?

From Apple's macOS feature availability page for macOS Golden Gate, checked on 2 October 2026:

Apple lists one Turkish variant, Türkiye. "Not listed" means absent from that feature's list on the day we checked.

• Say every punctuation mark. Apple's guide says automatic commas, periods and question marks work "in supported languages". Turkish is not on that list, even though the Turkish edition names the switch Otomatik noktalama.
• Use the emoji picker. Turkish is not on the emoji dictation list.
• On-device is listed. Apple's guide says the text below the Dictation switch in Keyboard settings confirms whether general dictation is processed on your Mac. Is Mac Dictation private? explains that note.

How do you say punctuation in Turkish?

Apple's Turkish command list, Mac'te metin dikte ettirme komutları, is translated. The entries you will use most:

Three details from that page:

• No lira sign. The currency section lists the dollar, cent, pound, euro and yen signs but not ₺. Type it yourself, or check how your Mac writes amounts you dictate.
• The ampersand entry. "ve işareti" shows the result as the word "ve", not "&". Test it if you need the symbol.
• "boşluksuz açık" and "boşluksuz kapalı" write the next phrase without spaces and then return to normal.

What about dotted and dotless i?

Turkish has two separate letters, dotless ı/I and dotted i/İ, and Apple's Dictation guide does not describe how Dictation handles them. Apple's own Turkish command page shows why it is worth checking: the colon command is printed with a stray combining dot over the first letter, as "i̇ki nokta üst üste", which is what happens when software lowercases a capital İ without Turkish rules.

Check ı, İ, ğ, ş, ç, ö and ü in your test, especially in names and at the start of sentences. If a word comes out wrong, Apple says ambiguous text is underlined in blue: click it and choose an alternative. The Turkish edition's example is getting "çilek" when you meant "çiçek".

Turkish Q or F keyboard vs dictation

Dictation language and keyboard layout are separate settings. Apple's feature page lists two Turkish keyboards, Turkish (Q) and Turkish (F). Apple's Write in another language on Mac has you add one under Keyboard → Text Input → Edit, says its language also joins "your list of Dictation languages (if available)", and says Control-Space selects the last input source you used.

Apple's Dictation guide does not say you need a Turkish keyboard active to dictate Turkish. A Turkish layout matters when you fix ı or ğ by hand.

Apple also lists Turkish under Voice Control, the accessibility feature for operating the Mac by voice. Apple says that when Voice Control is on, standard Dictation is not available. Voice Control vs Dictation explains the choice.

What about other dictation apps?

Apple's Dictation is free and runs Turkish on the device, so test it first.

SuprFlow's requirements page lists 19 languages, including Turkish, and its setup asks you to choose a speech-recognition language. We have not tested accuracy per language and make no accuracy claim for Turkish, including dotted and dotless i. How to test SuprFlow with another language gives a short test. SuprFlow costs $125 once and has no free tier.

A 10-minute test for your Turkish

1. Write four made-up sentences: two ordinary, one with an English product or person name, and one with a date, an amount and a negation. Include a name starting with İ and words with ı. For example: "İlknur Hanım ile Jordan Chen'in toplantısı 14 Mayıs'ta. Tutar 2.750 lira, 2.570 değil."
2. Dictate them into Notes with Turkish active, saying "nokta" and "virgül".
3. Check every ı and İ, the apostrophe before suffixes, the figures and "değil".
4. Fix one letter with a Turkish Q or F layout.

Questions people ask

How do I use Turkish dictation on a Mac?

Add Turkish (Türkiye) under System Settings → Keyboard → Dictation → Languages → Edit, start Dictation, and choose Turkish from the language shown next to the cursor.

Why does Mac dictation not add punctuation in Turkish?

Apple does not list Turkish for auto-punctuation. Say each mark, such as "nokta", "virgül" and "soru işareti", from Apple's Turkish command list.

Does Mac dictation get ı and İ right in Turkish?

Apple does not say. Dictate sentences with ı, İ and names that start with İ, check each one, and fix misses with a Turkish keyboard.

Does Turkish dictation work offline on a Mac?

Apple lists Turkish (Türkiye) for on-device dictation, after a speech model download. The text below the Dictation switch in Keyboard settings confirms how your Mac processes it.

Related guides

• How to use voice to text on a Mac
• Dictate in Arabic on a Mac
• Mac dictation commands and punctuation
• How to test SuprFlow with another language
• Is Mac Dictation private?
• Voice Control vs Dictation on a Mac

Sources

• Apple — Dictate messages and documents on Mac
• Apple — Mac'te iletileri ve belgeleri dikte etme
• Apple — Mac'te metin dikte ettirme komutları
• Apple — macOS feature availability
• Apple — Write in another language on Mac
• SuprFlow — System requirements