ċ / ġ / ħ / ż

Reading Maltese Letters

Level 1

ċ, ġ, ħ, ż are distinct letters. Their uppercase forms are Ċ, Ġ, Ħ, Ż.

How It Works

Read ċ approximately like English “ch” and ġ like English “j”. ħ represents a voiceless pharyngeal consonant, formed with a constriction in the throat. ż usually represents /z/. These descriptions guide pronunciation; they do not replace ordinary spelling.

Removing a mark changes the letter: ġ differs from g, ħ from h, and ż from z. Maltese z commonly represents /ts/.

Read each letter within its word. In ħobż, final devoicing produces a final /s/ sound, while spelling retains ż. Capitalization preserves the mark too: sentence-initial Ġelat retains its dotted letter. These letters do not themselves mark grammatical gender or agreement.

Examples (4)

  1. ċavetta

    key

    Vocabulary fragment with ċ.

  2. ġelat

    ice cream

    Vocabulary fragment with ġ.

  3. ħobż

    bread

    Vocabulary fragment preserving ħ and final ż.

  4. żarbun

    footwear; shoe(s)

    Collective vocabulary fragment beginning with ż.

How It Connects

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ċ / ġ / ħ / żLevel 1Reading Maltese Letters

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