Esperanto pronunciation
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Main article: Esperanto
The following tables are a quick guide to Esperanto pronunciation. Each letter in the Esperanto alphabet, and each digraph representing a falling diphthong, is listed along with an equivalent in English and the International Phonetic Alphabet.
The creator of Esperanto, L. L. Zamenhof suggested using Italian as a model for Esperanto pronunciation.
For further discussion, see the article on Esperanto phonology.
Single letters
| Letter | English | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| a | ah | [, ] |
| b | b | [] |
| c | ts | [] |
| ĉ | ch | [] |
| d | d | [] |
| e | eh | [, ] |
| f | f | [] |
| g | hard g (as in go) | [] |
| ĝ | j | [] |
| h | h | [] |
| ĥ | loch | [] |
| i | ee | [] |
| j | y | [] (also [] in diphthongs aj, ej, oj, uj) |
| ĵ | zh | [] |
| k | k | [] |
| (but kz | x | [, ]) |
| l | l | [] |
| m | m | [] |
| n | n | [] |
| o | oh | [, ] |
| p | p | [] |
| r | r (rolled) | [] |
| s | s | [] |
| ŝ | sh | [] |
| t | t | [] |
| u | oo | [] |
| ŭ | – | [] (only in diphthongs aŭ, eŭ) |
| v | v | [, , ] |
| z | z | [] |
Diphthongs
| Letters | English | IPA |
|---|---|---|
| aj | bye | [, ] |
| aŭ | bough | [, ] |
| ej | bay | [, ] |
| eŭ | * | [, ] |
| oj | boy | [, ] |
| uj | booey (said as one syllable) | [, ] |
* Something similar to eŭ is sometimes heard for "oh" in exagerations of the Queen's English by American comedians such as Carol Burnett.