Language/Czech/Pronunciation/Alphabet-and-Pronunciation

Alphabet and Pronunciation in Czech

The Czech alphabet may have some letters that seem a bit strange and even difficult to pronounce, but don't worry, you can learn it! 😊 In this lesson on Czech Pronunciation → Alphabet and Pronunciation, we will guide you through the unique sounds and pronunciation rules of the Czech language. After mastering this lesson, you can also explore other related pages, such as Czech Vocabulary - Shapes, Czech Grammar: Learn Demonstrative Pronouns, and Czech Pronunciation - Intonation to further enhance your Czech language skills. Happy learning! 😃

Vowels – samohlásky

Vowel letters a, e, i/y, o, u represent sounds which are quite close to the English vowel sounds in ‘tuck, tech, tick, tock, took’ respectively. There’s no difference in sound between i and y, but the spelling affects the pronunciation of preceding d, t, n – see below. With acute signs added (á, é, í/p, ó, ú) these vowels are pronounced with longer duration: roughly like English ‘ah, eh, ee, aw, oo’. The long vowel ú is normally spelt r (with a kroufek ‘little circle’) except as the first letter in a word. Word stress is on the first vowel (long or short).

• A, Á: ano, ale, dal, dál, málo, malá
• E, É: ne, den, nese, krém, malé, milé
• I, Í/Y, O: byl/bil, syn, sýr, bílý, milý, malý
• O, Ó: ona, slovo, doma, gól, móda, haló
• U, Ú/Q: ruka, ruku, domu, dRm, úloha, domR

There are also three diphthongs (diftongy, sequences of two vowels within a single syllable) in which the first vowel, pronounced as above, moves into a very short u or w sound.

The commonest is OU:

• OU: bouda, malou, náhodou, nesou

The other two diphthongs appear in loanwords:

• AU: auto car, automobile, autobus ‘bus’, restaurace ‘restaurant’

• EU: pneumatika ‘(pneumatic) tyre’, neutralita ‘neutrality’

Other vowel letter sequences are pronounced as two syllables:

• IE: Anglie ‘England’, as if spelt -ije (for J see below)

• IO: rádio ‘radio’, as if spelt -ijo

• AO: ‘a-o’ e.g. kakao ‘cocoa’

Consonants – souhlásky

Consonant letters b, d, f, g (as in ‘good’), h, k, l, m, n, p, s (as in ‘sun’), t (as in ‘stop’), x and z are pronounced much the same as in English.

However:

K, P, and T lack the typical English ‘post-aspiration’, a slight puff of air following them, unless they come at the end of a word:

kilo, ruka, pil, koupil, ten, to, ta

but are post-aspirated in final position in words like: buk, lup, mít.

H is pronounced further back, more deeply, hollowly, than the English equivalent:

holit, haló, mnoho, nahý

CH must be distinguished from H, and is pronounced like Scottish ‘loch’ (not like a regular English CH):

chudý, chyba, ucho, chladno

R is briefly trilled, like a Scottish R, and pronounced in all positions:

rád, ruka, Karel, hora, pár, sestra, horko

Both R and L can act like vowels, creating syllables of their own:

krk, bratr, plný, nesl

One silly Czech tongue-twister suggests (misleadingly) that the language lacks vowels. The saying literally means ‘stick (your) finger through (your) neck/throat’:

Strč prst skrz krk.

QU and W turn up in occasional loanwords with retained foreign spelling. western [vestern], WC [vétsé], quasi- (pronounced and more often spelt kvazi- ).

S is pronounced [z] in words for ‘-isms’ ending in -ismus and in a few other loanwords and names:

Josef [Jozef], feminismus [feminizmus] (now also spelt -izmus)

The letter X occurs in loanwords, where it is mostly pronounced [ks], e.g. extra ‘extra’, except in words beginning in ex- plus a vowel, if the ex- is not perceived as a tacked-on prefix. Here it is pronounced [gz], e.g. existovat ‘to exist’, exil ‘exile’, exotickp ‘exotic’.

Z is as in English ‘zebra’, e.g. zebra, zima ‘winter’

Alphabet and Pronunciation

Letter	Name	IPA
A a	á	/a/
Á á	dlouhé á	/aː/
B b	bé	/b/
C c	cé	/ts/
Č č	čé	/tʃ/
D d	dé	/d/
Ď ď	ďé	/ɟ/
E e	é	/ɛː/
É é	dlouhé é	/ɛː/
Ě ě	ije, é s háčkem	/ɛ/, /jɛ/
F f	ef	/f/
G g	gé	/ɡ/
H h	há	/ɦ/
CH ch	chá	/x/
I i	í, měkké i	/ɪ/
Í í	dlouhé í, dlouhé měkké í	/iː/
J j	jé	/j/
K k	ká	/k/
L l	el	/l/
M m	em	/m/
N n	en	/n/
Ň ň	eň	/ɲ/
O o	ó	/o/
Ó ó	dlouhé ó	/oː/
P p	pé	/p/
Q q	kvé	/r̝/
R r	er	/r/
Ř ř	eř	/r̝/
S s	es	/s/
Š š	eš	/ʃ/
T t	té	/t/
Ť ť	ťé	/c/
U u	ú	/v/
Ů ů	dlouhé ú, ú s čárkou	/uː/
Ů ů	ů s kroužkem	/uː/
V v	vé	/v/
W w	dvojité vé	/v/
X x	iks	/ks/
Y y	ypsilon, krátké tvrdé í	/ɪ/
Ý ý	dlouhé ypsilon, dlouhé tvrdé í	/iː/
Z z	zet	/z/
Ž ž	žet	/ʒ/

• a, á (longer pronounced a)

• b

• c, č (like in -ch-alk)

• d, ď (check pronunciation)

• e, ě (you pronounce it like -ya-y - pronouncing the a as e), é (longer e)

• f

• g (pronounced always as in -g-oose)

• h (pronounced as in haha)

• ch (check the google translate)

• i, í (longer i)

• j (always pronounced as in -y-ay)

• k, l, m

• n, ň (sound as in -n-ew)

• o, ó (longer o)

• p, q

• r, ř (check some videos with pronunciation, this should be the hardest letter to pronounce for you)

• s, š (as -sh-ade)

• t, ť (check google translate or videos)

• u (the last sound of kn-ew-), ú (longer u), ů (longer u)

• v, w, x

• y, ý (longer y)

• z, ž (check pronunciation)

Pronunciation in several languages

Letra / Letter	Pronúncia no Português	Pronunciation in English
A	como a em amor	as a in Albert
C	como ts em tissá	as t`s in let`s
Č	como tch em tcheco	as ch in chicken
Ě	como iê em Imbariê	as ye in yellow
CH	como r em rato	as h in hit
J	como i em igual	as i in ink
Ň	como nh em ninho	as nih yah
Ř	como r + j  (juntos)	as r + zh (together)
Š	como ch em chá	as sh in shop
Ů	como uu	as oo in look
Ž	como j em janela	as the word je (French)
Á	como aa	as the letter a in bar
É	como ee	as the letter e in Edward
Ó	como oo	as oo in door
Ú	como uu	as oo in look

Czech Online Virtual Keyboard

Sources

http://utkl.ff.cuni.cz/~rosen/public/GGG/Czech_essent_grammar.pdf

Other Lessons

• Intonation