The Czech alphabet, explained for English speakers

Czech adds 16 letters to the standard 26-letter Latin alphabet you already know — bringing the total to 42. Eight are vowels with diacritics marking length (á, é, í, ó, ú, ů, ý, plus ě which is special). Eight are consonants with the háček (the v-shape mark) that change the sound entirely (č, ď, ň, ř, š, ť, ž — plus the digraph "ch" which counts as one letter).

This post is the practical companion to the alphabet guide — a slightly more discursive walk through what each unfamiliar letter does and how to remember the system.

The two diacritics, in plain English

The čárka (looks like an acute accent: á é í ó ú ý) marks vowel length. The vowel is held about twice as long as the unmarked version. Same vowel quality — just longer. Length is meaningful in Czech: pas (passport) ≠ pás (belt).

The háček (the v-shape: č š ž ď ť ň ř ě) changes the consonant entirely. c becomes č (English "ch"). s becomes š ("sh"). The exception is ě, which doesn't change the vowel — it changes the consonant before it. We'll get to that.

The kroužek (the ring on ů) is the only diacritic that doesn't do its own thing — ů sounds identical to ú. The difference is purely positional: ú at the start of a word, ů elsewhere.

The seven consonants English doesn't have

Č

"ch" in church. čaj (tea), čokoláda (chocolate).

Š

"sh" in ship. škola (school), špatný (bad).

Ž

"s" in treasure. žena (woman), žádný (none).

Ť, Ď, Ň

Soft palatal versions of t, d, n — middle of tongue against roof of mouth instead of tip behind teeth. loď (boat), kůň (horse), tělo (body).

Ř

The famous one — a rolled r and a "zh" simultaneously. tři (three), řeka (river). See the dedicated guide.

The "regular" letters with quirks

• C is always /ts/, never /k/ or /s/. cíl = "tseel."
• Ch is one letter (sorts after H), pronounced /x/ — back-of-throat, like Scottish loch. chleba (bread).
• H is voiced — vocal cords vibrate. Different from English h. had (snake) sounds like a hum, not a puff.
• J is the "y" sound. já (I) = "yah."
• R is rolled (Spanish-style trill).
• Q, W, X only appear in loanwords. Q = "kv", W = "v", X = "ks".

The trap: ě

ě looks like a vowel with a háček, but it doesn't act like one. Its job is to soften the consonant before it. After m, ě adds an /ɲ/ sound: město (city) is "mňesto." After b/p/v/f, it adds a j-glide: pět (five) is "pyet." After d/t/n, it softens them to ď/ť/ň: tělo (body) is "ťelo." The actual e sound at the end is just regular short e in all cases.

Full breakdown here.

The hidden softening rule

Czech writing assumes you know that d, t, n always soften to ď, ť, ň when followed by i, í, or ě. So tisíc (thousand) is written with t but pronounced with ť — "ťisíts." This convention makes Czech spelling more economical for natives but adds an invisible rule for learners.

How to memorize the alphabet

Don't memorize as 42 letters. Memorize as: 26 you know + the diacritic system. The diacritics are predictable — háček = sound change, čárka = length change, kroužek = positional spelling. Once you internalize the system, every new diacritic letter slots in naturally.

The alphabet topic in the library has audio for every letter — three minutes of clicking through gives you the full set in your ears.