How to read and say Czech

Pronunciation is very simple, since words are pronounced the same way as they are written. You only need to know, how to pronounce each letter.

Stress

Unlike e.g. Spanish, the accent doesn't mean a vowel is stressed. It means it's long. Czech is basically an unstressed language (all syllables given equal stress), but the (light) stress is always on the first syllable.

Short vowels

a

like 'u' in "cup" [uh]

e

like 'e' in "red" [eh]

i

like 'i' in "bit" [ih]

o

like 'o' in "bore" [oh]

u

like 'u' in "put" [oo]

y

same as 'i' [ih]

Long vowels

á

like 'a' in "far" [aa]

é

not found in English, but just stretch out the e sound

í

like 'ee' in "spleen" [ee]

ó

stretch out the o sound

ú/ů

like 'oo' in "pool" [ooh]

ý

like 'ee' in "speed" [ee] (and exactly the same pronunciation as í)

The vowel Ěě

The Czech vowel "ě" is pronounced in one of three ways, depending on the preceding letter.

dě, tě, ně

pronounced as though they were written ďe, ťe, ňe — the preceding consonant is softened and the e is pronounced [eh]

mě

pronounced as though it was written mňe — a soft n, like the Spanish ñ, is inserted and the e is pronounced [eh]

in all other cases (bě, pě, vě)

ě is pronounced 'ye' as in "yet" but in a middle of a word 'ie' in "miedo"

Syllabic r, l

Consonants r and l are used also as syllabic (sonant), i. e. they stand as vowels. That's why they can shape seemingly unpronounceable groups of consonants as in the words zmrzlina, scvrnkls, zmrd, čtvrthrst, skrz etc.

Consonants

b

like 'b' in "bed"

c

like 'ts' in "bits"

č

like 'ch' in "child"

d

like 'd' in "dog"; dě, di, dí like ďe, ďi, ďí

ď

like 'd' in "duty" (UK)

f

like 'f' in "for"

g

like 'g' in "go"

h

like 'h' in "help"

ch

like 'ch' in the Scottish word "Loch"

j

like 'y' in "yell"

k

like 'k' in "king"

l

like 'l' in "love"

m

like 'm' in "mother"

n

like 'n' in "nice"; ně, ni, ní like ňe, ňi, ňí

ň

like 'ñ' in Spanish "señor"

p

like 'p' in "pig"

q

like 'q' in "quest" (very rare)

r

like Scottish 'r' (a.k.a. rolling 'r')

ř

like 'rzh'; is like the trilled 'r' and the 'su' in " pleasure " together, the tip of your tongue should vibrate loosely. Like "diversion". (This sound is very difficult for foreigners.)

s

like 's' in "hiss"

š

like 'sh' in "cash"

t

like 't' in "top"; tě, ti, tí like ťe, ťi, ťí

ť

like 't' in "tube" (UK)

v

like 'v' in "victory"

w

like 'v' in "victor" (rarely used in Czech words, however used in German-originated proper nouns or words of Polish origin)

x

like 'cks' in "kicks"

z

like 'z' in "zebra"

ž

like 's' in "measure"

Diphthongs

Diphthongs are sounds that consist of two vowels within the same syllable (like in the English word "house").

au

like 'ow' in "cow"

eu

like 'eu' in "Europa"

ou

like 'o' in "go"

Nondigraphs

sh

is not digraph, but two separate consonats, not like the "sh" in "ship" but rather 's' followed by 'h' as in glass house. Because of the voice assimilation, it is pronounced usually as 's' followed by 'ch' in Bohemian dialects, or as 'z' followed by 'h' in Moravian dialects.

Assimilation

Czech writing is very phonetic but there are some anomalies. Preschool children usually write such words in phonetic spelling.

voice assimilation at the bottom

some voiced consonant are pronounced as voiceless at the bottom of the word: mráz is pronounced as mrás, hřib as hřip, led as let, výtah as výtach, úsměv as úsmňef etc. The letter ř is used for voiced as well as voiceless variant.

voice assimilation in the group of consonants

some couples or groups of voiced and voiceless consonant influences one another (roztok is pronounced as rostok, pod stromem is pronounced as potstromem). In case of h, the assimilation depends on the dialect: generally, Bohemian dialects prefer the voiceless, Moravian dialects prefer the voice (na shledanou is pronounced as na schledanou or as na zhledanou). Sonor consonants (m, n, j, r, l) are never voiceless even if they are near a voiceless consonant and commonly they don't change the neighboring consonant.

doubled consonants

in some cases, two equal consonant letters are next to each other. In some cases they fuse (cenný is pronounced as cený, měkký is pronounced as mňeký) but on some cases they must be pronounced separately: samoobsluha as samo-obsluha, nejjasnější as nej-jasňejší etc. The fused pronunciation can give a different meaning (nej- means most, ne- means un-)

fusion and omission

in popular and not careful pronunciation, some groups of consonants can merge and some consonants can be missed. Dětský is often pronounced as ďecký, dcera as cera, pojď sem can sound pocem, jestli as esi, jsem as sem, kdyby as dyby, všiml sis as šimsis, jestli sis všiml as esisisišim etc.