inşallah
/inˈʃaɫːah/
To say inshallah in Turkish, use inşallah. It means if God wills and is also used like hopefully.
inşallah is used both as a sincere expression of hope and as a vague, noncommittal hopefully in casual conversation about plans or future events.
Meaning: Islam: if God has willed it (intj)
What does it mean word for word?
The word comes from an Arabic phrase meaning if God wills.
How does it change in a sentence?
At the start of a sentence it is written with a capital dotted letter, as in İnşallah.
How do you pronounce it?
The IPA is /inˈʃaɫːah/. The i sounds like the ee in creek, the ş like the sh in shoe and the final h like the h in home. The stress falls on the second syllable.
Did you know?
- In many Turkish social contexts, if someone responds to a suggestion with a very long, drawn-out inşallah, it is often a coded signal that they have no intention of actually doing it.
- Turkish speakers often pair inşallah with nasip or kısmet, words referring to fate or destiny, to emphasize that the outcome is entirely out of human hands.
- While the word is Arabic in origin, the Turkish spelling inşallah uses the letter ş to represent the 'sh' sound, reflecting the transition from the Arabic alphabet to the Latin alphabet in 1928.
Examples in context
- İnşallah yakında evde oluruz.Inshallah, soon we'll be home.Here İnşallah opens the sentence to express the hope of being home soon.Tatoeba #4783576 by deyta, translation #3843484 by gleki
- İnşallah sınavı geçebilirsin.God willing, you can pass the exam.
- Yarın hava güzel olur, inşallah.The weather will be nice tomorrow, God willing.
Example conversation
Merve and Can are talking about a future trip.
- MerveGelecek yaz tatile gideriz, inşallah.We will go on holiday next summer, God willing.
- CanEvet, çok isterim.Yes, I would love to.
- MerveBiletleri erken alırız.We will buy the tickets early.
- Canİnşallah her şey yolunda gider.God willing, everything will go well.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “inshallah” translations and entries inşallah, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
