Latvian alphabet

The Latvian alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet and consists of 33 letters. 22 of them are from the Latin alphabet; the remaining 11 are obtained from Latin letters by using diacritic marks. The letters are:

a, ā, b, c, č, d, e, ē, f, g, ģ, h, i, ī, j, k, ķ, l, ļ, m, n, ņ, o, p, r, s, š, t, u, ū, v, z, ž

A, Ā, B, C, Č, D, E, Ē, F, G, Ģ, H, I, Ī, J, K, Ķ, L, Ļ, M, N, Ņ, O, P, R, S, Š, T, U, Ū, V, Z, Ž

Historical letters

Historically the letters CH, Ō and Ŗ were also used in the Latvian alphabet. On 5 June 1946, the Latvian SSR legislature passed a regulation on language reform that officially replaced the letter Ŗ with R in print. Similar reforms replacing CH with H, and Ō with O were enacted over the next few years.

The letters CH, Ō and Ŗ continue to be used in print throughout most of the Latvian diaspora communities, whose founding members left their homeland before the post-World War II Soviet-era language reforms. An example of a publication in Latvia today, albeit one aimed at the Latvian diaspora, that uses the older orthography—and hence, also the letters CH, Ō and Ŗ—is the weekly newspaper Brīvā Latvija.

The letter "O"

In present-day Latvian, the letter O is used for three vowel sounds: the diphthong "uo", and a simple "o" (both long and short), particularly in loan words (e.g. telefons).

Letter names and pronunciation

Letter	Name	IPA	English approximation	Letter	Name	IPA	English approximation
A, a	a	[ɑ]	Up	Ķ, ķ	ķē	[c]	(Not used in English, corresponds to Hungarian Ty)
Ā, ā	garais ā	[ɑː]	Car	L, l	el	[l]	Lamp
B, b	bē	[b]	Brother	Ļ, ļ	eļ	[ʎ]	(Not used in English, corresponds to some Slavic languages as Lj)
C, c	cē	[t͡s]	Tsar	M, m	em	[m]	Male
Č, č	čē	[t͡ʃ]	Chair	N, n	en	[n], [ŋ]	Nail
D, d	dē	[d]	Door	Ņ, ņ	eņ	[ɲ]	(Not used in English, corresponds to Spanish/Filipino ñ, as in Malacañang)
E, e	e	[e], [æ]	Elephant / Bad	O o	o	[ua̯], [o], [oː]	Ocular
Ē, ē	garais ē	[eː], [æː]	(Not used in English)but sounds similar to fair or birch	P, p	pē	[p]	Peace
F, f	ef	[f]	Finger	R, r	er	[r]	Spanish perro, Scottish English curd
G, g	gā	[ɡ]	Gap	S, s	es	[s]	Sock
Ģ, ģ	ģē	[ɟ]	(Not used in English, corresponds to the Slovak/Czech Ď, but somewhat similar to the D of the English word Duty)	Š, š	eš	[ʃ]	Shadow
H, h	hā	[x], [h]	Hockey	T, t	tē	[t]	Table
I, i	i	[i]	Germany	U, u	u	[u]	Would
Ī, ī	garais ī	[iː]	Each	Ū, ū	garais ū	[uː]	You
J, j	jē	[j]	Yawn	V, v	vē	[v]	Vacuum
K, k	kā	[k]	Cat	Z, z	zē	[z]	Zebra
				Ž, ž	žē	[ʒ]	Vision

ģ, ķ, ļ and ņ are pronounced with saying base letter and pressing middle of the tongue against palate. You can emit similar sounds in other ways, but getting sound right will take a lot of practice for anybody native in English, or even French and Spanish speaking.

See also

• Latvian orthography