Dysmey Post > Projects & Stuff > Esperanto > The Alphabet
There are twenty-eight letters in the Esperanto alphabet. It is based on the Latin alphabet we use, with six letters wearing little hats to show their sounds are somehow different.
Aa as in father |
Bb as in bat |
Cc as in cats |
Ĉĉ as in chat |
Dd as in door |
Ee as in date |
Ff as in food |
Gg hard, as in go |
Ĝĝ soft, as in gem |
Hh as in hat, never silent |
Ĥĥ as in German Bach or Spanish baja |
Ii as in machine |
Jj as in yet |
Ĵĵ as in azure, French jour |
Kk as in king |
Ll as in lot, never in little |
Mm as in mat |
Nn as in nut |
Oo as in open |
Pp as in pan |
Rr as in rat, but trilled |
Ss hard, as in sack |
Ŝŝ as in shack |
Tt as in top |
Uu as in lunar |
Ŭŭ as in wet |
Vv as in vase |
Zz as in zip |
It's one sound per letter in Esperanto, so these do not vary.
The alphabet is spelled out like this:
a, bo, co, ĉo, do, e, fo,
go, ĝo, ho, ĥo, i, jo, ĵo,
ko, lo, mo, no, o, po, ro,
so, ŝo, to, u, ŭo, vo, zo.
The vowels are like those in Spanish: bajo, noche, río, hoja, usted.
There are also vowel blends called diphthongs:
aj as in ice | aŭ as in now |
ej as in eight | eŭ as in may ooze |
oj as in boy | |
uj as in ruin |
The diphthong oŭ (as in known) is very rare, and those starting with ŭ occur only in foreign words: ŭato, watt; Ŭesto, the guy who made these cards.
The consonants are mostly like those in English and other languages. However, there are some things to keep in mind.
hard, always as in go, never as in gem.
soft, always as in gem, never as in go.
Two other letters take getting used to:
Ĥ is made by blowing while trying to sound out "k". It's a common sound in most languages, and English had it at one time. It appears only in a handful of common words in Esperanto: ĥoro (choir), eĥo (echo), arĥivo (archive). Some words with h have alternative spellings in k: ĥemio (chemistry) is also spelt kemio.
R is well trilled with the tip of your tongue, like in German or Spanish. Failing that, the tongue-tap of the Japanese ラ and the Midwestern American English ladder or better is okay, as is the uvula trill of Parisian French and some Slavic languages. What is not okay is the semivowel of most English varieties or the a-lengthening of other English dialects.