Letters Example Approximate pronunciation
A a | gads (year) | but, sun |
Ā ā | māte (mother) | father, car |
B b | bagāts (rich) | butter, bad |
C c | ceļot (to travel) | ts in cats |
Č č | četri (four) | child, charming |
D d | diena (day) | day, definition |
Dz dz | dzīve (life) | adzuki bean, adz |
Dž dž | dadži (thistle) | John, jump |
E e | es (I) | Ben, pen |
esmu (am) | fat, bad | |
Ē ē | ēst (eat) | chair, baby |
tēvs (father) | mad, flat | |
F f | filma (movie) | film, figure |
G g | galds (table) | give, gold |
Ģ ģ | ģimene (family) | dew |
H h | humors (humor) | hymn, half |
I I | ilgi (long) | big, tip |
Ī ī | īss (short) | feet, three |
J j | jūs (you) | yes, you |
K k | kafija (coffee) | Kipling, king (no aspiration) |
Ķ ķ | kaķis (cat) ~ | tune |
L I | lampa (lamp) | lamp,1ook |
Ļ ļ | ļoti (very) ~ | million |
M m | māja (house) | men, meat |
N n | nakts (night) | no, night |
ola (egg)~ | wallet | |
O o | foto (photo) | fog, rob |
opera (opera) | polittics, oil | |
P p | puika (lad) | pet, pencil (no aspiration) |
R r | Rīga (Riga) ~ | brogue (no aspiration) |
S s | sieva (wife) | silk, save |
T t | tagad (now) | ten, tall (no aspiration) |
U u | upene (black currant) | look, put |
Ū ū | ūdens (water) | food, fool |
V v | vecs (old) | vote, vicar |
Z z | zāles (medicine) | zipper, zone |
Ž ž | žurnāls (journal) | measure, pleasure |
ai | maize (bread) | pine, fine |
au- | Daugava (the Daugava bow, how | |
(the Latvian river)) | ||
ei- | veikals (shop) | May, prey |
ui- | puika (lad) no counterpart in English | |
the most difficult is:
ie- | sniegs (snow) | no counterpart in English |
This is the Latvian Alphabet used in Latvia, but there
are some distinctions in
the alphabet used by Latvians abroad.
G. Pujāte, M. Sosāre, Latvian for Foreigners, 1995