Czech Alphabet: Why ú and ů Sound Alike and What ě Does

Czech marks length and sound on top of the Latin a to z. A čárka (á é í ó ú ý) or a kroužek (ů) makes a vowel long. A háček changes a consonant (č ď ň ř š ť ž) or, on ě, the consonant before it. Ch is a single letter, filed after h.

What are the letters of the Czech alphabet, in order?

The Unicode CLDR lists 42 letters for Czech, from a to ž. The 15 lit ones are letters English does not have: á č ď é ě í ň ó ř š ť ú ů ý ž. Tap a capital or a small letter to copy it.

The order is CLDR's collation for Czech, applied by ICU 78.3 (CLDR 48.0).

Which Czech letters go beyond a to z?

15 letters of the Czech alphabet are not in English, and each carries a mark. Of these, á, č, é, í, ó, ř, š, ť, ú, ý and ž link to their own page with every shortcut.

Á áa with acute; shortcuts and facts on the A with accent page
Č čc with caron; shortcuts and facts on the C with cedilla (ç ć č) page
Ď ďd with caron
É ée with acute; shortcuts and facts on the E with accent page
Ě ěe with caron
Í íi with acute; shortcuts and facts on the I with accent page
Ň ňn with caron
Ó óo with acute; shortcuts and facts on the O with accent page
Ř řr with caron; shortcuts and facts on the R with accent page
Š šs with caron; shortcuts and facts on the S with accent page
Ť ťt with caron; shortcuts and facts on the T with accent (ț ť ţ ṭ ṯ ẗ ṫ ṱ ŧ) page
Ú úu with acute; shortcuts and facts on the U with accent page
Ů ůu with ring above
Ý ýy with acute; shortcuts and facts on the Y with accent page
Ž žz with caron; shortcuts and facts on the Z with accent page

How do you type the Czech letters on each device?

Each row gives the method the vendor documents for one Czech letter. The help pages are linked at the end.

Letter	Mac	Windows	Microsoft Word
á	`Option+E`, then `A`	`Alt+0225`	`Ctrl+'`, then `A`
č	Press and hold C, then choose č	`Win+.`, then Symbols, then č	010d, then `Alt+X`
ď	`Fn/Globe+E`, then search "latin small letter d with caron", then ď	`Win+.`, then Symbols, then ď	010f, then `Alt+X`
é	`Option+E`, then `E`	`Alt+0233`	`Ctrl+'`, then `E`
ě	Press and hold E, then choose ě	`Win+.`, then Symbols, then ě	011b, then `Alt+X`
í	`Option+E`, then `I`	`Alt+0237`	`Ctrl+'`, then `I`
ň	`Fn/Globe+E`, then search "latin small letter n with caron", then ň	`Win+.`, then Symbols, then ň	0148, then `Alt+X`
ó	`Option+E`, then `O`	`Alt+0243`	`Ctrl+'`, then `O`
ř	`Fn/Globe+E`, then search "latin small letter r with caron", then ř	`Win+.`, then Symbols, then ř	0159, then `Alt+X`
š	`Fn/Globe+E`, then search "latin small letter s with caron", then š	`Alt+0154`	0161, then `Alt+X`
ť	`Fn/Globe+E`, then search "latin small letter t with caron", then ť	`Win+.`, then Symbols, then ť	0165, then `Alt+X`
ú	`Option+E`, then `U`	`Alt+0250`	`Ctrl+'`, then `U`
ů	`Fn/Globe+E`, then search "latin small letter u with ring above", then ů	`Win+.`, then Symbols, then ů	016f, then `Alt+X`
ý	`Fn/Globe+E`, then search "latin small letter y with acute", then ý	`Alt+0253`	`Ctrl+'`, then `Y`
ž	`Fn/Globe+E`, then search "latin small letter z with caron", then ž	`Alt+0158`	017e, then `Alt+X`
Guide	How to type accents on a Mac	How to type accents on Windows	How to type accents in Word

Google Docs: documented for every Czech letter here. For á: Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, then search "latin small letter a with acute". How to type accents in Google Docs
iPhone, iPad: documented for á, č, é, í, ó and ú. For á: Touch and hold A, then slide to á. None for ď, ě, ň, ř, š, ť, ů, ý and ž.
Android: documented for á, č, é, í, ó and ú. For á: Touch and hold A, then slide to á. None for ď, ě, ň, ř, š, ť, ů, ý and ž.
Chromebook: documented for á, é, í, ó, ú and ý. For á: Switch to the US International keyboard, then ', then A. None for č, ď, ě, ň, ř, š, ť, ů and ž. How to type accents on a Chromebook

Sources:Mac (Apple) (opens in a new tab)Windows, Microsoft Word (Microsoft) (opens in a new tab)Microsoft Word (Microsoft) (opens in a new tab)Google Docs (Google) (opens in a new tab)iPhone, iPad (Apple) (opens in a new tab)Android (Google) (opens in a new tab)Chromebook (Google) (opens in a new tab)Windows (Microsoft) (opens in a new tab)Mac (Apple) (opens in a new tab)

Which English words keep á, č, ď, é, ě, í, ň, ó, ř, š, ť, ú, ů, ý or ž?

Wiktionary lists these English words spelled with each letter, most common first by how often they appear in English subtitles:

é

fiancé
fiancée
café
cliché
résumé
olé
touché
attaché
séance
protégé

ó

adiós

Wiktionary lists no English word with á, č, ď, ě, í, ň, ř, š, ť, ú, ů, ý and ž that English subtitles use.

Why does Czech spell one long u as both ú and ů?

Because two old sounds merged, and the Czech alphabet kept a letter for each. The ÚJČ handbook (opens in a new tab), from the Czech Academy of Sciences' Institute of the Czech Language, says ú and ů sound exactly alike. Kúra and kůra are both said [kúra]. Wiktionary gives kúra (opens in a new tab) as a course of treatment, a cure, and kůra (opens in a new tab) as bark or crust. Only the letter tells them apart.

The ring is a leftover letter. ÚJČ's history of Czech spelling (opens in a new tab) traces it. Old Czech had a long ó. From the end of the 14th century it turned into the diphthong uo, and then into a long ú.

Scribes wrote that uo as a u with a small o above it, though uo in full lasted in writing until the middle of the 16th century. So the kroužek was once an o, and ů now writes the ú that grew out of it.

The old ú changed too. By the end of the 16th century it had become ou inside a word, so lúka became louka. At the start of a word it stayed ú: údolí, never oudolí. That history gives the rule below, from the handbook's page on ú and ů (opens in a new tab).

Where the long u stands	Write	ÚJČ's examples
first letter of a word	ú	úl, úcta, Ústí
after a prefix, if the base word starts with ú	ú	neúcta, bezúhonný
start of the second part of a compound	ú	trojúhelník, samoúčelný
a word taken from another language	ú	múza, túra, kúra
inside a native root	ů	dům, růže, kůra
in a prefix	ů	důkaz, průvodce
the suffix ‑ův	ů	bratrův, Benešův
a case ending	ů	stromů, stromům
the adverbs domů and dolů	ů	domů, dolů
one word allowed both ways	ú or ů	štrúdl, štrůdl

The ‑ův row shows up on the map. Havlíčkův Brod and Jindřichův Hradec, in the names and places block below, end their first word in that suffix. Bratrův is built the same way from bratr, and Ondřejův from Ondřej.

On a Czech keyboard the two letters sit apart: ú right of P and ů right of L. The Czech keyboard page draws all three Windows layouts for Czech and types every letter here.

What does ě do to the consonant before it in Czech?

The letter ě tells you how to read the consonant before it. The ÚJČ page on the letter ě (opens in a new tab) says it stands only after d, t, n, after b, p, v, f, and after m. The e itself is an ordinary e. What changes is the sound before it. The meanings below are Wiktionary's, for děsit (opens in a new tab), něha (opens in a new tab), běhat (opens in a new tab) and město (opens in a new tab).

Written	Said	Example	Meaning
dě, tě, ně	[ďe], [ťe], [ňe]	děsit, said [ďesit]; něha	to horrify; tenderness
bě, pě, vě, fě	[bje], [pje], [vje], [fje]	běhat, said [bjehat]	to run
mě	[mňe]	město, said [mňesto]	city

So the first row is a spelling trade. The handbook notes that ďe, ťe and ňe never appear in Czech writing. Where the sound is ďe, you write dě, and the háček moves from the consonant to the vowel.

The second row has exceptions. After p and f, Czech writes only ě, never je. After b and v it writes je where a prefix meets a root that starts with je: objem (opens in a new tab), volume, and vjezd (opens in a new tab), a driveway. The m row has a twin spelling, mně, which the FAQ below sorts out.

Which Czech marks make a vowel long, and what does length change?

Short vowel	Meaning	Long vowel	Meaning
vila	villa	víla	fairy
pas	passport	pás	belt, waist
peče	bakes	péče	care
lože	bed, in literary use	lóže	a box for spectators
kul	forged	kůl	stake, post

The last row is the ů from the first section at work: the ring and the čárka are both length marks. The ý is too. It is a long y, and y is said like i, so ý sounds like í. The handbook adds that ó is mostly found in words from other languages, such as móda, and in names.

In Czech, a slip in vowel length is a real error, not a matter of style. Write vila for víla and the fairy becomes a villa. A spell checker accepts both, because both are words.

Where do ch and the háček letters go in a Czech dictionary?

In Czech alphabetical order, ch goes between h and i, and č, ř, š and ž each follow their base letter. The handbook's sorting rules (opens in a new tab) cite the Czech standard ČSN 97 6030 for this.

The standard's primary row reads a, b, c, č, d, e, f, g, h, ch, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, q, r, ř, s, š, t, u, v, w, x, y, z, ž. The lengthened vowels and ď, ě, ň and ť are not in that row. They sort as the plain letter, and the mark counts only between words that are otherwise the same.

ÚJČ's examples show both ranks at once. Ďábel, the devil (opens in a new tab), sits between da capo and dabing, as if it were dabel. Schody comes after shoda, because sch is s and then the letter ch. When marks are the only difference, the word with its mark nearer the end comes first: kanon, kanón, kaňon, kánon.

We ran these words through the locale-aware compare in Node.js v26.0.0, which runs ICU 78.3 on CLDR 48 data, on 2026-10-10. Czech rules matched every ÚJČ example. English rules differ where a háček letter or ch decides.

Two words	Under Czech rules	Under English rules
hrad, chléb	hrad first	chléb first
cukr, čaj	cukr first	čaj first
ruka, řeka	ruka first	řeka first
dabing, ďábel	ďábel first	ďábel first

The ďábel row is the control. Ď sorts as a plain d in Czech, and English rules do the same. Search shows the same split. In the same test, a Czech-rules search that ignores accents found kůra when asked for kura. It did not find česko when asked for cesko. To a Czech collator, č is a different letter and ů is only a long u.

Two lists of Czech alphabet letters exist, and they differ only on q, w and x. The handbook's list of letters for Czech sounds (opens in a new tab) leaves them out. The sorting row above puts them back, and so does the alphabet at the top of this page, which comes from the CLDR alphabetic information chart (opens in a new tab).

Why is the Czech ř so rare, and who says r instead?

Because the sound itself is rare. ÚJČ's history of Czech spelling (opens in a new tab) calls ř very unusual among the languages of the world. It arose in the 13th century from a softened r, and the oldest written evidence for it dates from 1237. That r stood before e, ě or i, or before a lost soft vowel, or in the group rj. The handbook traces řeka, řepa, tři and moře back to forms with a plain soft r.

There are two ř sounds, and one letter of the Czech alphabet for both. Ř is voiced in řeka and dveře. It loses its voice next to a voiceless consonant, as in křik, and at the end of a word, as in keř. No pair of Czech words differs only by the two, so the spelling never needed a second letter.

Not every Czech speaker says it. In the kopaničáři dialects of south-east Moravia, by the Slovak border, people say orech for ořech and repa for řepa.

The handbook puts this down to Slovak settlers or to the neighbouring West Slovak dialects. Early scribes had no letter for ř either. They wrote r, rs or rz, until a mark over the r took over; how that mark became the háček is told on the caron page.

How to type Czech letters, step by step

Step 1: Mac: ú with Option+E, ů from the Character Viewer

Press Option+E, then U, to type ú. The ring has no such key, so for ů press Fn/Globe+E and search latin small letter u with ring above. The same search with e with caron finds ě.

Step 2: Microsoft Word: ř, ě and ů by their code

Type 0159 and press Alt+X to turn it into ř. The code 011b gives ě and 016f gives ů. Word replaces the code with the letter as you type.

Step 3: Windows: Win+. for the háček letters

Press Win+. to open the emoji panel and choose Symbols. Pick č, ď, ě, ň, ř or ť among the Latin symbols, and it is typed where the cursor stands.

Step 4: Google Docs: search Special characters

Choose Insert, then Symbols, then Special characters, and search a name such as latin small letter r with caron. Click ř to place it in the document.

Which other letters does the CLDR list for Czech?

The Unicode CLDR lists these as auxiliary letters for Czech: characters that turn up in Czech text without being letters of its alphabet, in loanwords, foreign names or dictionary marks.

Which names and places are spelled with á, č, ď, é, ě, í, ň, ó, ř, š, ť, ú, ů, ý or ž?

Given names come from Wikidata, the most widely covered first by the number of Wikipedia editions about them, and places come from the GeoNames list of cities, largest population first, kept only where an official language of the country writes the letter.

á

Given names:

Zoltán
András
Václav
Álvaro
Kálmán
Ciarán
Sándor
István
Nándor
Siobhán
Károly
Árpád

Places:

Bogotá (Colombia)
Ciudad Juárez (Mexico)
Naucalpan de Juárez (Mexico)
Culiacán (Mexico)
Álvaro Obregón (Mexico)
Acapulco de Juárez (Mexico)
Cuiabá (Brazil)
Coyoacán (Mexico)

č

Given names:

Srečko
Mečislovas
Čedomir
Frančišek
Ričardas
Časlav
Čeněk
Česlovas

Places:

Čačak (Serbia)
České Budějovice (Czechia)
Pančevo (Serbia)
Trenčín (Slovakia)
Zaječar (Serbia)
Děčín (Czechia)
Brčko (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
Česká Lípa (Czechia)

ď

Places: Žďár nad Sázavou (Czechia), Sereď (Slovakia)

é

Given names:

René
José
André
Géza
Éder
Andrés
Aurélie
Cécile
Béla
Étienne
Aimée
Aimé

Places:

Lomé (Togo)
Montréal (Canada)
Santiago de Querétaro (Mexico)
Belém (Brazil)
Yaoundé (Cameroon)
Mérida (Mexico)
Salé (Morocco)
Bouaké (Côte d’Ivoire)

ě

Given names:

Zdeněk
Zbyněk
Matěj
Květa
Vítězslav
Alžběta
Naděžda
Květoslav
Luděk
Čeněk
Vojtěch
Věra

Places:

České Budějovice (Czechia)
Děčín (Czechia)
Prostějov (Czechia)
Záběhlice (Czechia)
Kroměříž (Czechia)
Nové Město (Czechia)
Český Těšín (Czechia)
Uherské Hradiště (Czechia)

í

Given names:

Joaquín
Jiří
Drahomíra
Vigdís
Antonín
Vladimír
Tímea
Bohumír
Rocío
Sofía
Kristína
Benjamín

Places:

Brasília (Brazil)
Medellín (Colombia)
São Luís (Brazil)
San Luis Potosí (Mexico)
Maturín (Venezuela)
Montería (Colombia)
Jundiaí (Brazil)
Xalapa de Enríquez (Mexico)

ň

Given names: Soňa, Zdeňka

Places:

Libeň (Czechia)
Líšeň (Czechia)
Letňany (Czechia)
Vrakuňa (Slovakia)
Kadaň (Czechia)
Rožňava (Slovakia)
Stará Ľubovňa (Slovakia)

ó

Given names:

Ildikó
Józef
Ólafur
Jón
József
Óscar
Cristóbal
Zsófia
Viktória
Lóránt
Miklós
László

Places:

Córdoba (Argentina)
León de los Aldama (Mexico)
Asunción (Paraguay)
Maceió (Brazil)
Thanh Hóa (Vietnam)
Kraków (Poland)
Torreón (Mexico)
Álvaro Obregón (Mexico)

ř

Given names:

Jiří
Bedřich
Jindřich
Ondřej
Přemysl
Jiřina
Břetislav
Oldřich
Jindřiška
Bořivoj
Bedřiška
Kateřina

Places:

Brno střed (Czechia)
Havířov (Czechia)
Přerov (Czechia)
Třebíč (Czechia)
Modřany (Czechia)
Třinec (Czechia)
Příbram (Czechia)
Kroměříž (Czechia)

š

Given names:

Dušan
Miloš
Uroš
Saša
Šarūnas
Arnošt
Nebojša
František
Luboš
Duško
Lukáš
Ljubiša

Places:

Niš (Serbia)
Košice (Slovakia)
Šiauliai (Lithuania)
Prešov (Slovakia)
Kruševac (Serbia)
Nikšić (Montenegro)
Šabac (Serbia)
Šilainiai (Lithuania)

ť

Given names: Taťána

Places: Piešťany (Slovakia)

ú

Given names:

Raúl
Núria
Guðrún
Lúcia
Úna
Artúr
Júlia
Júlio
Ágúst
Bendegúz
Matúš
Magnús

Places:

Cancún (Mexico)
Cúcuta (Colombia)
Maipú (Chile)
Grajaú (Brazil)
Phú Quốc (Vietnam)
Phú Mỹ (Vietnam)
Maracanaú (Brazil)
Criciúma (Brazil)

ů

Given names: Růžena

Places: Stodůlky (Czechia), Havlíčkův Brod (Czechia), Jindřichův Hradec (Czechia), Dvůr Králové nad Labem (Czechia)

ý

Given names: Kristýna, Borgný, Dionýz

Places:

Phủ Lý (Vietnam)
Frýdek-Místek (Czechia)
Liptovský Mikuláš (Slovakia)
Český Těšín (Czechia)
Phú Quý (Vietnam)
Starý Bohumín (Czechia)
Nový Jičín (Czechia)
Černý Most (Czechia)

ž

Given names:

Božena
Božidar
Željko
Primož
Žarko
Živilė
Dražen
Matjaž
Andraž
Evžen
Žydrūnas
Anže

Places:

Petržalka (Slovakia)
Panevėžys (Lithuania)
Žilina (Slovakia)
Ilidža (Bosnia & Herzegovina)
Užice (Serbia)
Žižkov (Czechia)
Požarevac (Serbia)
Považská Bystrica (Slovakia)

Which languages use á, č, ď, é, ě, í, ň, ó, ř, š, ť, ú, ů, ý or ž?

Between them, á, č, ď, é, ě, í, ň, ó, ř, š, ť, ú, ů, ý and ž are part of the standard alphabet of 48 languages in the Unicode CLDR. Each letter's languages:

á

23 languages:

Afrikaans
Anii
Asturian
Czech
Dutch
Ewe
Faroese
Galician
Hungarian
Icelandic
Interlingue
Irish
Kaingang
Nigerian Pidgin
Occitan
Portuguese
Slovak
Spanish
Tongan
Vietnamese
Welsh
Western Frisian
Yoruba

č

9 languages:

Bosnian
Croatian
Czech
Latvian
Lithuanian
Lower Sorbian
Slovak
Slovenian
Upper Sorbian

ď

2 languages: Czech, Slovak

é

35 languages:

Afrikaans
Anii
Asturian
Catalan
Czech
Dutch
Ewe
French
Galician
Hungarian
Icelandic
Interlingue
Irish
Italian
Javanese
Kaingang
Ligurian
Luxembourgish
Nigerian Pidgin
Norwegian
Occitan
Piedmontese
Portuguese
Romansh
Slovak
Spanish
Sundanese
Swedish
Tongan
Venetian
Vietnamese
Welsh
Western Frisian
Wolof
Yoruba

ě

3 languages: Czech, Lower Sorbian, Upper Sorbian

í

22 languages:

Anii
Asturian
Catalan
Czech
Dutch
Ewe
Faroese
Galician
Hungarian
Icelandic
Interlingue
Irish
Nigerian Pidgin
Occitan
Portuguese
Slovak
Spanish
Tongan
Vietnamese
Welsh
Western Frisian
Yoruba

ň

3 languages: Czech, Slovak, Turkmen

ó

30 languages:

Anii
Asturian
Catalan
Czech
Dutch
Ewe
Faroese
Galician
Hungarian
Icelandic
Interlingue
Irish
Kaingang
Ligurian
Lower Sorbian
Nigerian Pidgin
Norwegian
Occitan
Polish
Portuguese
Slovak
Spanish
Tongan
Upper Sorbian
Venetian
Vietnamese
Welsh
Western Frisian
Wolof
Yoruba

ř

2 languages: Czech, Upper Sorbian

š

12 languages:

Bosnian
Croatian
Czech
Estonian
Finnish
Latvian
Lithuanian
Lower Sorbian
Northern Sotho
Slovak
Slovenian
Upper Sorbian

ť

2 languages: Czech, Slovak

ú

22 languages:

Anii
Asturian
Catalan
Czech
Dutch
Ewe
Faroese
Galician
Hungarian
Icelandic
Interlingue
Irish
Nigerian Pidgin
Occitan
Portuguese
Slovak
Spanish
Tongan
Vietnamese
Welsh
Western Frisian
Yoruba

ů

1 language: Czech

ý

8 languages:

Czech
Faroese
Icelandic
Slovak
Turkmen
Vietnamese
Welsh
Western Frisian

ž

12 languages:

Bosnian
Croatian
Czech
Estonian
Finnish
Latvian
Lithuanian
Lower Sorbian
Slovak
Slovenian
Turkmen
Upper Sorbian

What are the Alt codes for the Czech letters?

Hold Alt and type the digits on the number pad with Num Lock on. The top row of digits does not work, and laptops without a number pad need the methods above.

Letter	Alt code
á	`Alt+0225`
Á	`Alt+0193`
é	`Alt+0233`
É	`Alt+0201`
í	`Alt+0237`
Í	`Alt+0205`
ó	`Alt+0243`
Ó	`Alt+0211`
š	`Alt+0154`
Š	`Alt+0138`
ú	`Alt+0250`
Ú	`Alt+0218`
ý	`Alt+0253`
Ý	`Alt+0221`
ž	`Alt+0158`
Ž	`Alt+0142`

č Č ď Ď ě Ě ň Ň ř Ř ť Ť ů Ů have no Alt code: Windows cannot type them that way.

Which AccentPad pages cover the Czech letters?

These letter pages each hold one or more Czech letters, with every shortcut and the facts for that letter:

Other alphabets that share Czech letters beyond a to z:

Every letter with the same mark, on one page, for á, é, í, ó, ú, ý, č, ď, ě, ň, ř, š, ť and ž: Accent aigu, Caron.

Need a letter outside the Czech alphabet?

Frequently asked questions about Czech letters

Can a Czech word start with ů?

Not a native one. The ÚJČ handbook puts ú at the start of a word, as in úl, a beehive, and úcta, respect. It puts ů inside the word: in a root such as dům, in a prefix such as průvodce, a guide, and in endings. A word that starts with the long u sound starts with ú.

Is ch one letter or two in Czech?

One. The ÚJČ handbook says ch, made of c and h, counts as a single letter in Czech, unlike in other languages, because it writes a single sound. Dictionaries file it between h and i, so chléb comes after hrad. At the start of a capitalised word it is written Ch, as the grid at the top shows.

Why does the ÚJČ list of Czech letters leave out q, w and x?

Because that list holds the letters for Czech sounds. The handbook adds that q, w and x occur in words of foreign origin, and that names and quotations bring in more, such as ä, ö, ü, ç, ñ and ł. Its sorting rules do give q, w and x a place, between p and r, v and y. CLDR lists them too.

Do you write mě or mně in Czech?

Both are said [mňe]; the word you start from decides. The ÚJČ handbook writes mně when the base word has mn or men: jemný gives jemně, finely. Without mn in the base, write mě: zima gives v zimě, and rozum gives rozumět. Root words such as město, a city, also take mě.

Are i and y said differently in Czech?

No. The ÚJČ handbook says bili, bily, byli and byly are all said [bili], so speech alone cannot tell them apart. The two letters keep a sound difference that old Czech lost. The long í is a little closer than short i, which some listeners mistake for a difference between i and y.