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Czech Alphabet - Česká abeceda

Alphabet - Abeceda

Generally speaking, the Czech language uses the principle of "what you see is what you read". Sounds are represented by Latin letters (characters) in a straightforward and expected manner.

Today's Czech ortographic system is diacritic; the acute accent (čárka) is used for long vowels, while the caron (háček) is added to standard Latin letters to represent sounds that are foreign to Latin. The circle (kroužek) is used exclusively for the long [ů] when it is not at the beginning of a word.

There is one digraph, ch, pronounced [χ]; this sound is similar to the Scottish [χ] in loch [loχ].

There are 42 letters in the Czech alphabet.

Velká písmena (Capital letters):

A, Á, B, C, Č, D, Ď, E, É, Ě, F, G, H, CH, I, Í, J, K, L, M, N, Ň, O, Ó, P, Q, R, Ř, S, Š, T, Ť, U, Ú, Ů, V, W, X, Y, Ý, Z, Ž

Malá písmena (Small letters):

a, á, b, c, č, d, ď, e, é, ě, f, g, h, ch, i, í, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, ř, s, š, t, ť, u, ú, ů, v, w, x, y, ý, z, ž

Note

The letters Ě, Ů, and Ý never occur at the beginning of a word.

  • a
  • e
  • i
  • o
  • u
  • y

The duration of long vowels is doubled compared to that of short vowels.

  • á
  • é
  • í
  • ó
  • ú
  • ů (same pronunciation as ú but positioned in the middle or at the end of a word) 1
  • ý
  • b
  • c
  • d
  • f
  • g
  • h
  • ch
  • j
  • k
  • l
  • m
  • n
  • o
  • p
  • q
  • r
  • s
  • t
  • v
  • w
  • x
  • z

Factually, the caron signals the palatalized pronunciation of a respective non-palatalized consonant.

  • č - česnek (garlic) like the English ch in church [tʃɜːtʃ]
  • ď - ďábel (devil) like the English d in duty [ˈdjuːtɪ]
  • ě - this letter itself does not have a special pronunciation. It can signal:
    • soft (palatalized) pronunciation of preceding /ď/, /ť/, /ň/: dědeček (grandfather), tělo (body), něco (something)
    • additional /j/ for bě, pě, vě combinations: běžet (to run) - /bježet/, pět (five) - /pjet/, věk (age) - /vjek/
    • additional /ň/ in combination mě: město (city) - /mňesto/
  • ň - kůň like the English n in new [njuː]
  • ř - řeka (river) - no equivalent in English
  • š - šíp (arrow) like the English s in sure [ʃʊə]
  • ť - zeť (son-in-law) like the English t in Tuesday [ˈtjuːzdeɪ]
  • ž - žába (frog) like the English leisure [ˈleʒə]

Refer to the Phonetics section for more details about the pronunciation.

Spelling - Hláskování

When it is necessary to spell a word, the following is used:

Letter Value Derived noun
A [á] áčko
Á dlouhé [á] 2
[á] s čárkou		 -
B [bé] béčko
C [cé] céčko
Č [čé] -
D [dé] déčko
Ď [ďé] -
E [é] éčko
É dlouhé [é]
[é] s čárkou		 -
Ě [é] s háčkem -
F [ef] efko
G [gé] géčko
H [há] háčko
CH [chá] cháčko
I [í] íčko
Í dlouhé [í]
[í] s čárkou		 -
J [jé] jéčko
K [ká] káčko
L [el] elko
M [em] emko
N [en] enko
Ň [eň] -
O [ó] óčko
Ó dlouhé [ó]
[ó] s čárkou		 -
P [pé] péčko
Q [kvé] kvéčko
R [er] erko
Ř [eř] -
S [es] esko
Š [eš] -
T [té] téčko
Ť [ťé] -
U [ú] účko
Ú dlouhé [ú]
[ú] s čárkou		 -
Ů dlouhé [ů]
[ů] s kroužkem		 -
V [vé] véčko
W dvojité [vé] -
X [iks] iksko
Y ypsilon
krátké tvrdé [y]		 -
Ý dlouhé ypsilon
dlouhé tvrdé [ý]
tvrdé [ý] s čárkou		 -
Z [zet] zetko
Ž [žet] -
Examples
  • DPH (Daň z přidané hodnoty - Value Added Tax) - [dé-pé-há]
  • ČD (České dráhy - Czech Railways) - [čé-dé]
  • USA - [ú-es-á]
  • STK (Státní technická kontrola) - [es-té-ká]
  • KFC - [ká-ef-cé]

Handwritten style

In Czech, the handwritten style of writing looks different from the printed one. Several letters take on different shapes, and in handwriting, most letters are joined together..

Children at school are usually taught to write in this style when they begin learning to write. However, most people later switch to a print-like style.

Compare the examples below to see how the handwritten and printed forms differ:

Handwritten Printed
Česká republika Česká republika
Šedesát šest šedesát šest
Pan Novák nebyl doma. Pan Novák nebyl doma.
Letadlo letělo nízko. Letadlo letělo nízko.
Děti si hrály na hřišti. Děti si hrály na hřišti.

  1. There are some words of foreign origin containing ú in positions other than the first. Here are a few examples:

    kúra (treatment) and derivates: manikúra, pedikúra

    túra (hike, walking tour)

    múza (muse)

    skútr (scooter)

    ocún (colchicum, crocus)

    iglú (igloo)

    ragú (ragout, stew)

    ↩

  2. These words are of neuter gender; therefore, any words referring to them must agree in gender. For example:

    in dlouhé á, the adjective takes the neuter ending -é.

    ↩