The Estonian Alphabet

Level 1

Estonian has 27 letters. Four vowels, õ, ä, ö and ü, are separate letters, not accented versions of o, a and u.

How It Works

The Estonian alphabet in order is: a, b, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, r, s, š, z, ž, t, u, v, õ, ä, ö, ü. That is 27 letters. Twenty-three of them are used in ordinary Estonian words. The other four, f, š, z and ž, appear only in loanwords: foto (photo), šokolaad (chocolate), zooloogia (zoology), garaaž (garage).

Two things about the order surprise English speakers. First, z and ž come right after š, before t, not at the end. Second, õ, ä, ö and ü come after v. When dictionaries also sort foreign names, they add c, q, w, x and y: c and q fit in their English places, w goes after v, and x and y go at the very end after ü. So a word starting with ü is near the back of the dictionary.

Estonian spelling is very regular. Each letter stands for one sound, and every letter is pronounced, including the final e in tere. A few things are not shown in writing, though:

  • Double letters mean a long sound (kool, linn), but spelling usually does not show the difference between long and overlong. See short, long and overlong.
  • The letters b, d, g and p, t, k show length as well as sound. See spelling b, d, g and p, t, k.
  • Soft (palatalized) consonants, as in palk (log) versus palk (salary), are not marked. See palatalization.

The four special vowels are real letters. Leaving off the dots or the tilde gives a different word or no word at all: täna means today, but tana means nothing. Learn to type them from the start. See the vowel õ and the vowels ä, ö and ü.

Estonian also uses fewer capital letters than English. Days, months, languages and nationalities are written with a small letter: esmaspäev, mai, eesti keel, eestlane. See small letters for days and nations.

Examples (5)

  1. Tere, ma olen Mari.

    Hello, I'm Mari.

    Word by Word: Hello, I am Mari.

    Every letter is said, including the final e of tere.

  2. Õun on laual.

    The apple is on the table.

    Word by Word: Apple is table-on.

    Õ is its own letter, filed near the end of the dictionary, after v.

  3. Ma armastan šokolaadi.

    I love chocolate.

    Š appears only in loanwords such as šokolaad.

  4. Garaaž on maja taga.

    The garage is behind the house.

    Word by Word: Garage is house-of behind.

    Ž is another loanword letter.

  5. Ma vaatan filmi.

    I'm watching a film.

    F is used in newer loanwords; older loans replaced it, as in kohv (coffee).

Common Mistakes

  • Writing the š sound as sh.

    Ma armastan shokolaadi.
    Ma armastan šokolaadi.

    Estonian has its own letter š for this sound. Write š, not sh or ch, in words like šokolaad and tšau.

  • Leaving the dots off ä, ö and ü.

    Tana on ilus ilm.
    Täna on ilus ilm.

    Ä is a different letter from a. Without the dots, tana is not a word. Täna means today.

How It Connects

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The Estonian AlphabetLevel 1

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