Pronunciation guide

How to read and say Slovak

Letters, sounds and stress from Wikivoyage's Slovak phrasebook. Then hear the phrases and practice them, free.

Slovak is written as it sounds and is easier as difficult as it looks. It may help to remember that Slovak makes use of certain diacritical marks. The most common are ´, which lengthens a vowel (it does not imply stress in Slovak), and ˇ, which softens a consonant. Palatisation is occasionally used in Czech but is more widely used in Slovak.

Stress

Like Czech, stress in Slovak always falls on the first syllable, but try not to exaggerate it as it would be in English or in German.

Short Vowels

a: like 'a' in "amigo" [ah]
ä: like 'a' in "apple" [ah]
e: like 'e' in "bet" [eh]
i: like 'i' in "bit" [ih]
o: like 'o' in "sport" [aw]
u: like 'oo' in "book" [oo]
y: like 'i' in bit [ih] (same as Slovak "i")

Long Vowels

á: like 'a' in "far" ( long a sound ) [aa]
é: like 'é' in "bled" ( long e sound ) [ehh]
í: like 'ee' in "see" ( long i sound ) [ee]
ó: like 'oo' in "door" ( long o sound ) [ohh]
ú: like 'u' in "flute" ( long u sound ) [oo]
ý: like 'ee' in "weep" ( long y sound ) [ee]

Consonants

b: like 'b' in "baby"
c: like 'ts' in "bets"
č: like 'ch' in "church"
d: like 'd' in "day"
ď: like 'd' in "dew" (UK)
dz: like 'ds' in "roads"
dž: like 'j' in "juice"
f: like 'f' in "fine"
g: like 'g' in "game"
h: like 'h' in "hot", regardless of its position in the word
ch: hard aspirated sound like the 'ch' in "loch"
j: like 'y' in "yes"
k: like 'k' in "kick"
l: like 'l' in "luck"
ĺ: like 'l', but longer
ľ: like 'l' in "million"
m: like 'm' in "moon"
n: like 'n' in "nine"
ň: like 'ny' in "canyon"
ô: like 'wa' in "want"
p: like 'p' in "paper"
q: like 'q' in "quest"
r: like 't' in "water"
ŕ: like Spanish 'rr' in "carro"
s: like 's' in "son"
š: like 'sh' in "fish"
t: like 't' in "hot"
ť: like 't' in "tune" (UK)
v: like 'v' in "van"
w: like 'v' in "vest" [only used in foreign words]
x: like 'ks' in "bricks"
z: like 'z' in "zero"
ž: like 's' in "pleasure"

Common diphthongs

au: like the 'ow' in "cow"
ia: like 'ia' in "piano"
ie: like 'ea' in "fear"
iu: like 'ew' in "new"
ô: like 'wo' in "woke"