Letters with caron

The háček is mandatory in standard Czech. Dropping it is a severe spelling error that can change a word's meaning entirely (e.g., rada = advice vs. řada = row/line).

What it attaches to:

• Hushing/Trill Consonants: c, s, z, r become č, š, ž, ř. The háček changes their sound to a "hushing" equivalent (c [ts] becomes č [ch], s becomes š [sh], z becomes ž [zh]) or adds a fricative trill (r becomes ř, sounding like a rolled r and zh/sh combined).
• Soft/Palatalized Consonants: d, t, n become ď, ť, ň.
• Vowels: e becomes ě.

Typographical Quirk:
On the lowercase letters ď and ť, the háček is stylized to look like a small apostrophe next to the tall stem, but it is still functionally a háček. Note that their uppercase counterparts, Ď and Ť, as well as both the lowercase ň and uppercase Ň, use the standard wedge-shaped háček.

The "Hidden" Háček:
The háček is explicitly written on ď, ť, ň unless the consonant is followed by the vowels i, í, or the letter ě. Before i or í, the háček is dropped in writing, but the consonant is still pronounced soft (di, ti, ni / dí, tí, ní). Crucially, this is why Czech has two different letters for the "i" sound: in native words, writing i/í softens the preceding d, t, n, whereas writing y/ý keeps the consonant hard (e.g., ti is soft, but ty is hard). When these soft consonants are followed by an "e" sound, the háček is written on the vowel instead, creating the letter ě (dě, tě, ně). They are pronounced exactly as if they were written ďe, ťe, ňe. In contrast, if these consonants are written with a regular e (de, te, ne), they remain hard (e.g., ten, ne, jeden). Exception: In words of foreign origin (loanwords), di, ti, and ni are pronounced hard, as if written with a y (like dy, ty, ny) (e.g., diktát, titul).

The Letter ě:
Besides shifting the softness from d, t, n, the letter ě also appears after labial consonants (b, p, v, f) and m. In Czech, the letter ě can ONLY ever follow these 8 specific consonants (d, t, n, b, p, v, f, m). After b, p, v, f, it inserts a "y" (/j/) sound (e.g., pět). After m, it inserts an "ň" sound, meaning the syllable mě is pronounced exactly as if it were written mňe (e.g., město sounds like mňesto). Spelling note: Because the sound /mňe/ can be spelled as either mě or mně, it is a common spelling challenge. The spelling mně is used when the root of the word already contains an n (e.g., zapomněl, rozumně) or in certain pronoun forms (e.g., ke mně). Note that the letter ě never appears at the beginning of a word, so its uppercase form Ě is only used when a word is written in ALL CAPS.

Prefix + Root Boundary Rule: If the /j/ sound occurs across a word-building boundary (specifically, a prefix ending in a consonant like ob- or v- plus a root starting with je-), it must be spelled out as je, not ě (e.g., vjezd, objem).

Alphabetical Order:
Because letters with a háček are considered entirely separate letters, č, š, ž, and ř have their own dedicated sections in Czech dictionaries (e.g., words starting with č come after all words starting with c). In contrast, vowels with a čárka do not have their own sections and are sorted alongside their short counterparts.

Háček vs. Čárka:
Do not confuse the háček (ˇ) with the long vowel letters marked by a čárka (´). The háček changes sound quality, while the čárka only makes a vowel longer in duration. Neither mark affects word stress, which follows first-syllable word stress rules.