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