Latvian Alphabet

The Latvian Alphabet

[About the Alphabet]
[Long and Short Vowels]
[The Alphabet with Examples]
[Finding the marked letters in the dictionary]

About the Alphabet:

The language is generally phonetic. That is, there is generally one sound per letter. The language uses 22 Roman letters (the same letters used in English) but does not use the letters q,w,x,y. (The two-letter combinations ch, dz,

; represent single sounds.) Additional markings are used on 13 letters. These marks, called "diacritic marks" (impress your friends), are used above or below the regular letters to create a "new letter" which has its own sound.

Long and Short Vowels:

A horizontal line (a long mark) is above vowels to indicate that they are pronounced long. The difference between short and long vowels is important since it changes the meaning of a word.
For example,
= house
= in the house, at home

ja = if
= yes

The Alphabet with Examples:

Letter	Example	Hear the Example	Notes
	(newspaper)
	(apple)
	bumba (ball)
	cirvis (axe)
	(four)
	durvis (door)
	dziesma (song)		These two letters represent one sound.
	(pullover)		These two letters represent one sound.
	te (here) vecs (old)		There are two pronunciations of "e". The first example is the "normal e". The second example is the "broad e".
	(eat) (father)		Long E. There are two pronunciations of the "long e". The first example is "normal". The second example is "broad".
	(camera)
	galds (table)
	(family)
	humors (humor)
	istaba (room)
	(short)
	(you)
	(cat)
	(comb)
	laiva (boat)
	(very)
	(mother)
	nauda (money)
	(to take)
	ola (egg)		There are two different pronunciations of the letter "o": In native Latvian words, the "o" is pronounced like a diphthong "wa". In foreign borrowings, the pronunciation is short "o" polka(polka) or a long "o" oda (ode).
	(paper)
	roka (hand/arm)
	(war)		The palatized r is presently not used in Latvia, but is still used in Latvian communities outside Latvia.
	sula (juice)
	(today)
	(empty)
	upe (river)
	(water)
	virtuve (kitchen)
	zils (blue)
	(magazine)

Finding the marked letters in the dictionary:

Vowels are all treated the same, regardless whether they are long or short. Words are organized in the dictionary not taking into account long marks on vowels.

Marked consonants are placed directly after their un-marked counterparts. For example, all words starting with æ would come after words starting with k.

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