Estonian alphabet and pronunciation

Estonian pronunciation

Please note: we will be adding a detailed pronunciation guide soon!

In some ways, Estonian pronunciation is quite easy because words are normally spoken exactly as they are written.

However, in many cases the letters are pronounced differently to in English. Estonian also has several letters which don't occur in English, including one (Õ) which is rather tricky to pronounce as it has a very distinctive sound.

The stress of each word normally falls on the first syllable which gives the language a distinctive rhythm. A notable exception is the word aitäh ("thanks") where the stress is on the second syllable. Some words of foreign origin are also stressed on syllables other than the first.

The Estonian alphabet

The Estonian alphabet contains 32 letters, including 9 vowels:

A	a	aa
B	b	bee
C	c	tsee
D	d	dee
E	e	ee
F	f	eff
G	g	gee
H	h	haa
I	i	ii
J	j	jott
K	k	kaa
L	l	ell
M	m	emm
N	n	enn
O	o	oo
P	p	pee
Q	q	kuu
R	r	err
S	s	ess
Š	š	šaa
Z	z	zett
Ž	ž	žee
T	t	tee
U	u	uu
V	v	vee
W	w	kaksisvee
Õ	õ	õõ
Ä	ä	ää
Ö	ö	öö
Ü	ü	üü
X	x	iks
Y	y	üpsilon

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