How it works
The Czech alphabet to copy: the 42 letters as capitals with their Czech names and sounds, then as small letters. Fifteen carry a mark: a háček as on Č, a čárka as on Á, or the ring of Ů.
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Háček, čárka and ring
The háček, the caron in English, is on č, ď, ě, ň, ř, š, ť and ž: it was added to Latin letters for sounds foreign to Latin. The čárka, the acute accent, marks a long vowel: á, é, í, ó, ú and ý. Ů is the same long u as ú, which stands almost only at the start of a word or a root.
Ch is one letter
Ch counts as a single letter and comes after H. It is the one digraph kept from an older spelling that used many, and its tile copies two characters. Q, W and X are used only in foreign words.
- The name on a tile is what Czech calls the letter: A is á, B is bé, Ř is eř and W is dvojité vé.
- Ě, Ů and Ý never begin a word, so their capitals are seen only in writing that is all capitals.
- Dz and dž are written with two letters but do not count as letters of the alphabet.
Questions and answers
How many letters are in the Czech alphabet?
42: the 26 letters of the basic Latin alphabet, 15 letters with a mark and the digraph ch.
Where do the Czech alphabet symbols come from?
Marks for long vowels and soft consonants were first suggested around 1406, in De orthographia Bohemica: an acute accent and a dot above the letter. The háček later replaced the dot. The ring of ů began as a small o written above u.
Which Czech alphabet letters are not in English?
The fifteen with a mark, á č ď é ě í ň ó ř š ť ú ů ý ž, and ch counted as one letter. Some plain letters stand for sounds an English reader would not guess: c is /t͡s/ and j is /j/.
Which languages use the same marks as Czech?
Slovak spelling is a direct descendant of Czech spelling. Croatian, Slovene, Latvian and Lithuanian spelling are largely based on it as well, and all of them use similar marks.