Czech Alphabet Chart: 42 Letters, Names and Audio

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Quick answer

The Czech alphabet has 42 letters, counting CH as one letter and including Q, W and X, which appear only in foreign words. Fifteen letters carry an accent: the háček (č ď ě ň ř š ť ž), the čárka (á é í ó ú ý) and the kroužek (ů). Tap any tile in the chart above to hear it, or use the table below.

The Czech alphabet chart: all 42 letters from A to Ž

All 42 letters with names, sounds and examples

#	Letter	Czech name	Sounds like	Example
1	A	a	short “uh/ah”	tam there
2	Á	á	long “ah” (father)	máma mum
3	B	bé	b; p at word end	chléb bread
4	C	cé	ts in “cats”	cena price
5	Č	čé	ch in “church”	čaj tea
6	D	dé	d; t at word end	den day
7	Ď	ďé	soft “dy”	teď now
8	E	é	e in “bed”	pes dog
9	É	dlouhé é	long e	mléko milk
10	Ě	e s háčkem	softens letter before	děti children
11	F	ef	f	fotka photo
12	G	gé	hard g (go)	guma rubber
13	H	há	voiced h	Praha Prague
14	CH	chá	loch	chléb bread
15	I	í	i in “sit”	pivo beer
16	Í	dlouhé í	ee in “see”	bílý white
17	J	jé	y in “yes”	jak how
18	K	ká	k, no puff of air	kde where
19	L	el	clear l	les forest
20	M	em	m	máma mum
21	N	en	n	noc night
22	Ň	eň	ny in “canyon”	kůň horse
23	O	ó	o in “hot”, rounded	voda water
24	Ó	dlouhé ó	long o (rare)	gól goal
25	P	pé	p, no puff of air	pivo beer
26	Q	kvé	foreign words only	squash
27	R	er	tapped or trilled r	ruka hand
28	Ř	eř	trill + buzz	řeka river
29	S	es	s in “sun”	sýr cheese
30	Š	eš	sh in “shop”	šest six
31	T	té	t, no puff of air	táta dad
32	Ť	ťé	soft “ty”	chuť taste
33	U	ú	oo in “book”	ruka hand
34	Ú	dlouhé ú	oo in “food”	úterý Tuesday
35	Ů	ů s kroužkem	oo in “food”	dům house
36	V	vé	v; f at word end	voda water
37	W	dvojité vé	v (foreign words)	wifi
38	X	iks	ks (foreign words)	taxi
39	Y	ypsilon	i in “sit”	syn son
40	Ý	dlouhé ypsilon	ee in “see”	sýr cheese
41	Z	zet	z in “zoo”	zima winter
42	Ž	žet	s in “pleasure”	žena woman

Letters with their own in-depth page are linked; the others are covered below.

The letters that work like English (almost)

B, D, V, Z: voiced letters that change at the end

These sound like English, but at the end of a word or before a voiceless consonant they lose their voice: b → p (chléb = khlehp), d → t (hrad = hrat), v → f (lev lion = lef), z → s (mráz = mrahs). Spell them as written; say them as the sound.

P, T, K: no puff of air

English p, t, k at the start of a word come with a little burst of breath. Czech ones don’t. Hold your hand in front of your mouth: pivo, táta, kde should barely move the air. That one change makes your Czech sound much less foreign.

T

Plain t is made with the tongue tip touching the back of the upper teeth. Before i, í and ě it softens to ť: ticho is “tyi-kho”. See soft consonants.

K

As in English “skin” (no puff). Czech uses k where English often writes c: káva coffee, kino cinema.

G

Always hard, as in “go”, never as in “gem”. It’s rare in native words: guma (rubber), gól (goal). The g sound also appears when k is voiced before a voiced consonant: kde sounds like “gde”.

F

Mostly in loanwords (fotka, fotbal). Native Czech words rarely start with f, but you hear the f sound constantly because v at the end of a word becomes f: lev, krev (blood).

J

Always the y in “yes”: jak (how), já (I), jméno (name, with j and m both pronounced). In some words the j at the start is dropped in casual speech: jsem (I am) often sounds like “sem”.

L, M, N

L is clear, like in “leaf”, never the dark l of “full”. L and r can form a syllable on their own: vlk (wolf). M and n are as in English; n softens to ň before i and ě (nic = ňic), and m before ě gains an ň (město = mňesto).

N before k and g

Before k and g, n is pronounced like the ng in “finger”: banka (bank).

O and Ó

O is a rounded “o” as in British “hot”. Ó, the long version, appears mostly in loanwords (gól, móda fashion). Don’t turn o into the English “oh” glide: voda is VO-da, not “VOH-da”.

Q, W and X

These three are in the alphabet but only in foreign words and names: squash, watt, wifi, taxi, xylofon. W is pronounced v, x is ks. Native Czech words are often respelled: quiz → kvíz.

How to say the alphabet in Czech

Czech letter names are mostly the sound plus é or a short e: bé, cé, dé, ef, gé, há, chá, jé, ká, el, em, en… Accented letters are named by their mark: čé, or c s háčkem (c with a háček), dlouhé á (long á), ů s kroužkem (u with a ring). That’s how Czechs spell names over the phone.

Frequently asked questions

How many letters are in the Czech alphabet?

42, counting CH as a letter. Some sources say 41 because they don’t count CH separately. See how many letters are in the Czech alphabet.

What is the Czech alphabet in order?

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.

Czech Alphabet Chart: All 42 Letters With Sounds and Audio

All 42 letters with names, sounds and examples

The letters that work like English (almost)