o / ò

O and Ò

Level 1

Look for the accent: o and ò are two different sounds.

How It Works

Occitan has two o sounds, and the accent tells them apart.

Letter	Sounds like	Examples
o	the oo in “moon”	bonjorn (hello), ostal (house), jorn (day)
ò	the o in “not”, with the mouth more open	pòrta (door), òme (man), fòrça (a lot)

So bonjorn sounds like “boon-joor”, with no o as in “go”.

A stressed open o is always written ò. When the stress moves, the sound moves with it: demòri (I live) has an open ò, and demoram (we live) has a plain o.

The accent is part of the spelling. A missing accent is a spelling mistake.

Examples (5)

bonjorn
hello
Both o letters are plain and sound like oo.
pòrta
door
The ò is open, like the o in “not”.
ostal
house
The plain o sounds like oo.
òme
man
The ò is open.
Demòri a Tolosa.
I live in Toulouse.
The stressed vowel is open: demòri.

Common Mistakes

Leaving out the grave accent.
porta
pòrta
The ò is a different sound from o, so the accent is part of the word.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

o / òLevel 1O and Ò

Learn This First

The sound of o and ò depends on the vowel letters, so the alphabet comes first.

The Occitan Alphabet
Know the letters of the alphabet, because the grave accent on ò changes the vowel you hear: ostal, pòrta.
Level 1

Learn Next

Patterns that build on this one.

Stem Vowel ChangeLevel 2

Practice o / ò in Bubblegum

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