The Alphabet, Diphthongs, and Accent

The Alphabet

1.The Esperanto alphabet contains twenty-eight letters: a, b, c, ĉ, d, e, f, g, ĝ, h, ĥ, i, j, ĵ, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, ŝ, t, u, ŭ, v, z. The Latin letters q, w, x and y are not used, and six letters are added by means of a diacritical mark. The design is deliberate: the alphabet was fitted to the sounds of the language rather than inherited from another one, so that each letter has one sound, and each sound one letter.

birdo

bird — spelled bo, i, ro, do, o

ĉevalo

horse

The Vowels

2.There are five vowels, a, e, i, o, u, and each keeps one value wherever it stands, whether accented or not. English speakers must take particular care with e and o: the English vowels of "fate" and "toll" end in a slight vanish — a brief terminal i or u sound that makes them faintly diphthongal — and no Esperanto vowel may be given such a vanish.

aero

air — three vowels, three syllables: a-e-ro

obei

to obey — o-be-i; the final i is a full vowel

Consonants Differing from English

3.The consonants b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, t, v, z have their English values. Of the remaining eleven, these need attention: c is always /ts/; ĉ is ch as in "chin"; g is always hard; ĝ is the g of "gem"; ĥ is the rasped ch of "loch"; j is the y of "yes"; ĵ is the z of "azure"; ŝ is sh; r is slightly trilled; s is always voiceless, never the /z/ of English "rose".

centono

a hundredth — tsen-TO-no

ĝojo

joy — the initial sound of English 'joy'

ĵaŭdo

Thursday

juna

young — YU-na, not 'JU-na'

rozo

rose — the s-sound is absent; z is written where /z/ is meant

• [1] Only a few words contain ĥ, and several of them are now more often written with k: ĥemio or kemio, chemistry.

The Names of the Letters

4.The vowels are named by their sounds. Each consonant is named by adding -o: bo, co, ĉo, do, fo, go, ĝo, ho, ĥo, jo, ĵo, ko, lo, mo, no, po, ro, so, ŝo, to, ŭo, vo, zo. These names are used in spelling words aloud and in reading abbreviations.

bo, i, ro, do, o

b-i-r-d-o — spelling out birdo

ko to po

k. t. p. (= etc.)

Diphthongs

5.A diphthong is two vowels uttered as a single sound, by one breath-impulse. Every Esperanto diphthong has i or u as its second element — but so that they may never be confused with two vowels that merely stand side by side, the second element is written j or ŭ and not i or u. Hence naiva, naive, has three syllables, while najbaro, neighbour, has three of a quite different shape.

hodiaŭ

today — ho-di-AŬ, three syllables

Eŭropo

Europe

naiva

naive — na-I-va: ai here is **not** a diphthong, which is why the diphthong is written aj

Combinations of Consonants

6.Every consonant in a group is pronounced with its full value, whether the group stands at the beginning of a word or within it. There are no silent letters. English habits must therefore be resisted in four places: kn, kv, gv, sv sound both consonants; kz is not reduced to the gz or ks that English writes x; sc is the sts of "laST Said" said quickly; and ng keeps its g, as in "linger", not as in "singer". Two like letters together are each sounded, as in "inter-relate".

knabo

boy — the k is sounded

ekzisti

to exist — ek-ZIS-ti, not eg-zisti

scias

knows — STSI-as

lingvo

language — lin-GVO, with the g heard

ellerni

to learn thoroughly — el-LER-ni, both l's sounded

Syllables

7.A word contains as many syllables as it has vowels and diphthongs — a diphthong counting as one. The division is made thus: a single consonant goes with the vowel following it; a consonant followed by l or r goes with the l or r; otherwise the division falls before the last consonant of the group; and prefixes and the parts of compound words are kept whole.

pa-no

bread

ta-blo

table — the b goes with the l

sus-pek-ti

to suspect — division before the last consonant of the group

mal-akra

blunt — the prefix mal- is kept whole

Accent

8.Words of more than one syllable are accented on the syllable before the last, without exception. Because the rule admits of none, the accent is never written; and because a diphthong is one syllable (¶7), counting the syllables correctly is the whole of the work.

TA-blo

table

a-GRA-bla

agreeable

sus-PEK-ti

to suspect

ho-di-AŬ

today — aŭ is one syllable, and it is the last; the accent falls on di

• [1] Compare the languages Esperanto was meant to spare its learners: in Lithuanian, Russian or English the place of the accent must be memorised with each word.