Slovak Alphabet: Long ĺ and ŕ, Soft ľ, and the Rhythmic Law

Slovak uses the Latin a to z plus á ä č ď é í ĺ ľ ň ó ô ŕ š ť ú ý ž, and counts dz, dž and ch as letters. An acute marks a long sound, even on l and r. A rhythmic law bars two long syllables in a row, so Slovak writes krásny, not krásný.

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

The Unicode CLDR lists 46 letters for Slovak, from a to ž. The 18 lit ones are letters English does not have: á ä č ď dž é í ĺ ľ ň ó ô ŕ š ť ú ý ž. Tap a capital or a small letter to copy it.

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

Which Slovak letters go beyond a to z?

18 letters of the Slovak alphabet are not in English, and each carries a mark. Of these, á, ä, č, é, í, ó, ô, ŕ, 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
Ä äa with diaeresis; shortcuts and facts on the A with umlaut page
Č čc with caron; shortcuts and facts on the C with cedilla (ç ć č) page
Ď ďd with caron
Dž dždž
É ée with acute; shortcuts and facts on the E with accent page
Í íi with acute; shortcuts and facts on the I with accent page
Ĺ ĺl with acute
Ľ ľl with caron
Ň ňn with caron
Ó óo with acute; shortcuts and facts on the O with accent page
Ô ôo with circumflex; shortcuts and facts on the O with accent (ó ò ô õ ō) page
Ŕ ŕr with acute; shortcuts and facts on the R with accent (ř ŕ ŗ ṛ ṝ ȑ ȓ ṙ ṟ) 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
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 Slovak letters on each device?

Each row gives the method the vendor documents for one Slovak letter. The help pages are linked at the end. No vendor documents a method for dž, so they have no row: copy them from the grid at the top of the page.

Letter	Mac	Windows	Microsoft Word
á	`Option+E`, then `A`	`Alt+0225`	`Ctrl+'`, then `A`
ä	`Option+U`, then `A`	`Alt+0228`	`Ctrl+Shift+:`, 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`
í	`Option+E`, then `I`	`Alt+0237`	`Ctrl+'`, then `I`
ĺ	`Fn/Globe+E`, then search "latin small letter l with acute", then ĺ	`Win+.`, then Symbols, then ĺ	013a, then `Alt+X`
ľ	`Fn/Globe+E`, then search "latin small letter l with caron", then ľ	`Win+.`, then Symbols, then ľ	013e, then `Alt+X`
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`
ô	`Option+I`, then `O`	`Alt+0244`	`Ctrl+Shift+^`, then `O`
ŕ	`Fn/Globe+E`, then search "latin small letter r with acute", then ŕ	`Win+.`, then Symbols, then ŕ	0155, 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`
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 letter in the table. 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, ä, č, é, í, ó, ô and ú. For á: Touch and hold A, then slide to á. None for ď, ĺ, ľ, ň, ŕ, š, ť, ý and ž.
Android: documented for á, ä, č, é, í, ó, ô and ú. For á: Touch and hold A, then slide to á. None for ď, ĺ, ľ, ň, ŕ, š, ť, ý and ž.
Chromebook: documented for á, ä, é, í, ó, ô, ú and ý. For á: Switch to the US International keyboard, then ', then A. None for č, ď, ĺ, ľ, ň, ŕ, š, ť 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)Mac (Apple) (opens in a new tab)

What are the Alt codes for the Slovak 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`
ä	`Alt+0228`
Ä	`Alt+0196`
é	`Alt+0233`
É	`Alt+0201`
í	`Alt+0237`
Í	`Alt+0205`
ó	`Alt+0243`
Ó	`Alt+0211`
ô	`Alt+0244`
Ô	`Alt+0212`
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 ĺ Ĺ ľ Ľ ň Ň ŕ Ŕ ť Ť have no Alt code: Windows cannot type them that way.

Why do ĺ and ŕ, two Slovak consonants, carry a length mark?

Because in Slovak, l and r can carry a syllable on their own, and a syllable can be long. The Pravidlá slovenského pravopisu (opens in a new tab) (PSP), the spelling rules of the Ľudovít Štúr Institute of Linguistics in their third edition of 2000, names four Slovak accents. The dĺžeň, the acute, goes on á, é, í, ó, ú, ý, ĺ and ŕ. The mäkčeň goes on č, dž, š, ž, ť, ď, ň and ľ. Two dots make ä, and the vokáň makes ô.

So the acute does one job in Slovak: it lengthens. On a vowel it lengthens the vowel. On l or r it lengthens a consonant that already does a vowel's work. Words like vlk and prst have no vowel letter at all. Wiktionary marks the l and the r as the core of the syllable, and the length mark makes that core long.

Word	Meaning	Wiktionary IPA	Core of the syllable
vlk	wolf	/vl̩k/	short l
vĺča	wolf cub	/vl̩ːt͡ʃa/	long ĺ
prst	finger	/pr̩st/	short r
vŕba	willow	/vr̩ːba/	long ŕ
stĺp	column	/stl̩ːp/	long ĺ
tŕň	thorn	/tr̩ːɲ/	long ŕ

The transcriptions are Wiktionary's, from its entries for vlk (opens in a new tab), vĺča (opens in a new tab), prst (opens in a new tab), vŕba (opens in a new tab), stĺp (opens in a new tab) and tŕň (opens in a new tab). The small line under l̩ and r̩ means syllabic; the colon-like ː means long.

The PSP's line-break rules treat these consonants as vowels too. It splits vŕ-ba, Sĺ-ňa-va and mĺk-vy at the same points as a word with a real vowel. It also lists tŕň and tĺk among the one-syllable words that never break at all. Even the name of the mark shows it: dĺžeň (opens in a new tab) itself is spelled with a long ĺ. In Unicode, ĺ is one precomposed character, U+013A, and ŕ is U+0155.

In this site's data, the Slovak alphabet is the only one that writes ĺ. The languages table below shows which alphabets share each of the other letters.

What is the Slovak rhythmic law, and why is it krásny but pekný?

The Slovak rhythmic law is the rule that two long syllables never follow each other in the standard language. The PSP states it in its overview of rytmické krátenie, rhythmic shortening. When a stem ends in a long syllable, a long ending after it turns short. A long syllable is one with a long vowel, a diphthong, or a long ĺ or ŕ.

The pairs below are the PSP's own. In each, the left word has a short stem and keeps the long ending; the right word has a long stem, so its ending shortens.

Form	Short stem, long ending	Long stem, ending shortened
adjective	pekný	krásny
verb like robiť, first person	robím	chválim
verb like volať, first person	volám	hlásam
neuter plural	mestá	miesta
feminine plural, to	ženám	riekam
participle	chladnúci	vládnuci

Pekný (opens in a new tab) means nice and krásny (opens in a new tab), beautiful. Wiktionary gives /pekniː/ for the first and /kraːsni/ for the second: the long á of krás- leaves the ending short. Czech spells the word krásný (opens in a new tab), with two long vowels in a row, and Wiktionary says it /ˈkraːsniː/.

When a diphthong shortens, it loses its first part: ia becomes a, ie becomes e, iu becomes u, and ô becomes o. The PSP also lists the places where the second length stays.

Exception in the PSP	Example
nouns like vysvedčenie	lístie, lístím
the -í of a feminine genitive plural	básní, piesní
adjectives for animals	páví, pávieho
the -ia of the third person plural	chvália, hlásia
words with the prefixes ná-, zá-, sú-	námietka, súčiastka

For anyone typing Slovak letters by hand, the law explains a puzzle. The same ending is long on one word and short on the next, and the spelling is right both times. Do not let a Czech spell checker correct krásny.

Why is ä written in Slovak but said like e?

Because the Slovak alphabet keeps a letter for a sound most speakers no longer make. The PSP calls ä a short low vowel. Then it says that in everyday standard speech, in a neutral style, Slovaks say e in its place, and the spelling keeps ä whatever the pronunciation. The spelling name of the letter is široké e, a broad e.

Wiktionary gives both sounds. Its entry for mäso (opens in a new tab), meat, has /mæsɔ/ with the old vowel and [ˈmesɔ] with the e most people say. Päť (opens in a new tab), five, has /pæc/ and [ˈpec]. Pamäť (opens in a new tab), memory, lists /ˈpamɛc/ first.

So you cannot hear where ä goes. You have to know the word. The PSP makes that possible with a list: ä comes only after p, b, m and v, mostly in roots, never in a prefix. It has no long partner either, only the diphthong ia.

After	Words with ä in the PSP's list
p	päť, päta, opäť, späť
b	bäkať, holúbä, žriebä
m	mäso, mäkký, pamäť, smäd, Demänová
v	väčší, svätý, deväť, rukoväť

Words built from these keep the letter: päťdesiat, zväčšiť, svätec. The name of the soft-consonant mark has one too. Mäkčeň (opens in a new tab) is built on mäkký, soft, and Wiktionary gives both /mækt͡ʃeɲ/ and [ˈmekt͡ʃeɲ].

Why is ô one Slovak letter, but ia, ie and iu are two?

Because the PSP, which sets the Slovak alphabet letters, decided so for each diphthong. It writes the diphthong uo with one letter, o with a vokáň, and says outright: not with the pair uo. The diphthongs ia, ie and iu it writes with two letters, and they do not count as letters of the alphabet.

The sound is the same kind in all four. Wiktionary gives a short, glide-like first part each time, written with a small arch below.

Spelling	Word	Meaning	Wiktionary IPA	In the alphabet?
ô	kôň	horse	/ku̯ɔɲ/	yes, one letter
ô	stôl	table	/stu̯ɔɫ/	yes, one letter
ie	diera	hole	/ɟɪ̯era/	no, i and e
ie	chlieb	bread	/xʎɪ̯ep/	no, i and e

The transcriptions come from Wiktionary's entries for kôň (opens in a new tab), stôl (opens in a new tab), diera (opens in a new tab) and chlieb (opens in a new tab). The spelling name of ô is uo, and the mark's own name is vokáň (opens in a new tab).

Two letters can also be two syllables. The PSP notes that in loanwords and where a word's parts meet, ia, ie and iu are a plain i followed by a vowel: fialka, diecéza, priučiť. For the rhythmic law, ô counts as long, and when it shortens it becomes o.

When does Slovak leave the mäkčeň off ď, ť, ň and ľ?

Before e, i, í, ia, ie and iu. There the PSP writes plain d, t, n and l, yet the sound stays soft. The mark shows only before a, o, u, á, ú, before another consonant and at the end of a word: ďakovať, ťažký, ľud, loďka, choď, úľ.

Wiktionary's transcriptions show the soft sound behind the plain letter. The symbols ɟ, c, ɲ and ʎ are the soft ď, ť, ň and ľ.

Word	Meaning	Written	Wiktionary IPA
deti	children	d, no mark	/ɟeci/
telo	body	t, no mark	/ˈcɛɫɔ/
leto	summer	l, no mark	/ʎetɔ/
diera	hole	d, no mark	/ɟɪ̯era/
ten	this, that	t, no mark	/ten/

The last row is the exception. The PSP lists the words where d, t, n and l before e or i are hard after all: the pronoun ten with tie and tej, and the endings of adjectives like krásne and krásni. Wiktionary's ten (opens in a new tab) has a plain /t/. The entries for deti (opens in a new tab), telo (opens in a new tab) and leto (opens in a new tab) have the soft sounds.

This is why the Slovak alphabet letters ď, ť, ň and ľ turn up in text less often than their sounds would suggest. Do not add a mäkčeň to deti or leto; the PSP spelling has none.

Which languages use á, ä, č, ď, é, í, ĺ, ľ, ň, ó, ô, ŕ, š, ť, ú, ý or ž?

Between them, á, ä, č, ď, é, í, ĺ, ľ, ň, ó, ô, ŕ, š, ť, ú, ý and ž are part of the standard alphabet of 53 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

ä

12 languages:

Dutch
Estonian
Finnish
German
Ligurian
Low German
Luxembourgish
Slovak
Swedish
Turkmen
Welsh
Western Frisian

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

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

ĺ

1 language: Slovak

ľ

1 language: Slovak

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

ô

14 languages:

Afrikaans
Anii
French
Ligurian
Northern Sotho
Norwegian
Portuguese
Sicilian
Silesian
Slovak
Tswana
Vietnamese
Welsh
Western Frisian

ŕ

2 languages: Lower Sorbian, Slovak

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

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

Which English words keep á, ä, č, ď, é, í, ĺ, ľ, ň, ó, ô, ŕ, š, ť, ú, ý or ž?

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

ä

fräulein

é

fiancé
fiancée
café
cliché
résumé
olé
touché
attaché
séance
protégé

ó

adiós

Wiktionary lists no English word with á, č, ď, í, ĺ, ľ, ň, ô, ŕ, š, ť, ú, ý and ž that English subtitles use.

Which names and places are spelled with á, ä, č, ď, é, í, ĺ, ľ, ň, ó, ô, ŕ, š, ť, ú, 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)

ä

Given names:

Irenäus
Märta
Matthäus
Väinö
Päivi
Bartholomäus
Bärbel
Märtha
Käthe
Märt
Svätopluk
Säde

Places:

Jyväskylä (Finland)
Västerås (Sweden)
Lasnamäe (Estonia)
Gävle (Sweden)
Växjö (Sweden)
Södertälje (Sweden)
Hämeenlinna (Finland)
Mustamäe (Estonia)

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)

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)

ĺ

Given names: Voĺha

ľ

Given names: Ľuboš, Ľudovít, Ľubomír, Ľudmila, Ľubomíra

Places: Topoľčany (Slovakia), Vranov nad Topľou (Slovakia), Šaľa (Slovakia), Stará Ľubovňa (Slovakia)

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)

ô

Given names: Antônio, Siôn, Jérôme

Places:

Buôn Ma Thuột (Vietnam)
Thị Trấn Đông Triều (Vietnam)
Ðông Hà (Vietnam)
Ô Môn (Vietnam)
Thành phố Sông Công (Vietnam)
Buôn Hồ (Vietnam)
Santo Antônio de Jesus (Brazil)
Pôr do Sol (Brazil)

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)

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)

Neither list has a name or place with ŕ.

How to type Slovak letters, step by step

Step 1: Mac: dead keys for á, ä and ô

Press Option+E, then A, for á; the same key, then E, I, O or U, gives é, í, ó or ú. Press Option+U, then A, for ä. Press Option+I, then O, for ô.

Step 2: Mac: the Character Viewer for ĺ, ľ and ŕ

Press Fn/Globe+E and search latin small letter r with acute to find ŕ. Search l with acute for ĺ, or l with caron for ľ, and click the letter to type it.

Step 3: Windows: number-pad codes for ä and ô

With Num Lock on, Alt+0228 types ä and Alt+0244 types ô. For ĺ, ľ and ŕ there is no such code: press Win+., open Symbols and pick ĺ from the Latin letters.

Step 4: Microsoft Word: 013a, 013e or 0155, then Alt+X

Type 013a and press Alt+X for ĺ. In the same way, 013e gives ľ and 0155 gives ŕ. Word swaps the code for the letter as soon as you press the keys.

Step 5: ch, dz and dž: two characters each

Type c then h, d then z, or d then ž. The PSP counts each pair as one letter but writes it as two letters joined, so a search for the pair finds every word that has it.

Which other letters does the CLDR list for Slovak?

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

Which AccentPad pages cover the Slovak letters?

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

Other alphabets that share Slovak letters beyond a to z:

Every letter with the same mark, on one page, for á, é, í, ĺ, ó, ŕ, ú, ý, č, ď, ľ, ň, š, ť, ž, ô and ä: Accent aigu, Caron, Circumflex, Umlaut.

Need a letter outside the Slovak alphabet?

Frequently asked questions about Slovak letters

Is the Slovak alphabet the same as the Czech one?

No, though the two share most letters, ch among them. Slovak has ä, ĺ, ľ, ŕ, ô, dz and dž, which the Czech alphabet lacks. Czech has ě, ř and ů, which are not Slovak letters. CLDR, the data behind this page, files ř among the auxiliary letters for Slovak, for names and loanwords, and lists no ě or ů at all.

Is the dz in odzemok one Slovak letter or two?

Two. The Pravidlá slovenského pravopisu counts dz, dž and ch as letters only inside one part of a word, as in medzi, džavot and pichať. Where two parts of a word meet, they are two letters for two sounds: od-zemok, od-žať, viac-hlasný. The spelling looks the same, so only the word's structure tells them apart.

How do you spell out ä, ĺ and ŕ aloud in Slovak?

The PSP gives a spoken name for every letter. Ä is široké e, a broad e. Ĺ is dlhé el and ŕ is dlhé er, a long el and a long er. Ô is said uo, ý is dlhý ypsilon and w is dvojité vé, a double v. The plain letters take short names such as bé, cé and ká.

Which Slovak letters get their own place in a sorted list?

In our 2026-10-10 test with Node.js v26.0.0 (ICU 78.3, CLDR 48), the Slovak collator put masť before mäso, koza before kôň, cukor before čaj, hrad before chlieb, sova before šaty and zub before žaba. English rules reversed every pair. Yet ľad came before lúka and ďakovať before dub under both rules, so ľ, ď and ť sort as variants.

Which Slovak keyboard layouts can Windows add?

Microsoft's list of Windows keyboard layouts has Slovak, KLID 0000041B, and Slovak (QWERTY), KLID 0001041B, both available since before Windows XP. On an English layout, use the methods in the table above or the steps below.