|
Pronunciation
|
|
| Letter(s) | Sound | ä, ë, ï, ö, ü | Vowels with umlauts are used to show that the vowel is pronounced on its own in most cases, i. e. not together with another vowel to form sounds such as 'aî' (sounds llike eye). If used in another way, it will be listed, therefore aï would be ah-ee. | â, ê, î, ô, û | Vowels with circumflex, used to show that the vowel blends with the previous to form sounds such as 'aî' (sounds like eye). When preceded by a consonant, it either silences the vowel or does nothing. The exception is æ which is a combination of a and e (sounds like ay in hay) without using a circumflex. |
| a | Ah as in english father. |
| á | Accented a, sharp rising tone. |
| à | Accented a, falling tone. |
| e | Eh as in english feather. |
| é | Sharp e, rare. |
| è | Drawled e. |
| i | Ih as in english pit. |
| í | Sharp 'ee' sound as in english bee, but shorter. |
| ì | Drawled 'ee' sound longer than english bee. |
| î | Usually not silent after a consonant, always silent at the beginning of a word. |
| o | Oh as in english... oh. |
| ó | Sharp o, rare. |
| ò | Drawled o, rare. |
| u | Uh as in english mutt. |
| ü | Oo as in english food. |
| aâ | A as in english at. |
| æ | Ay as in english hay. |
| aî | Pronounced exactly like the english word eye. |
| aô | Ow as in english plow. |
| aû | Aw as in english maw. |
| eû | Ew as in english flew. |
| iû | Pronounced exactly as the english you. |
| uî | Pronounced as english we. |
| uô | Wo as in english whoa. |
| oî | Oy as in english joy. |
| B, d, f, g, h, j, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, and z are the same as english. | |
| K sound | Before a, o, u 'k' is used to form english k sound, before i and e 'q' is used. |
| Any consonant followed by h is reduced to a softer form, familiar examples are english sh, th and ch. | |
| c | Used very, very rarely, 'c' is pronounced as a 'k' regardless of its position, and 'ç' is always pronounced as 's'. |
| þ | Th, rare. |