Latin · A B C …
The 26 letters six of our languages share — and the least honest alphabet on this site: the same letter can mean utterly different sounds per language (j = English /d͡ʒ/, French /ʒ/, Spanish /x/, German /j/; c, g, r, u all shift). Each language patches the gaps its own way: French with accents that change sound (é è ç), German with umlauts that change the vowel entirely (ä ö ü) plus ß, Spanish with ñ and the one-sound-per-letter discipline, Italian by simply not using j k w x y in native words, Malay by being younger than the others' bad habits. The per-language Sounds pages trace the real letter→sound rules; this table shows the spread.
Latin (from Greek via Etruscan) · written left to right · used here by English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Malay
26 signs
| # | Sign | Name | IPA | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | a | a | a · æ · ɑː · eɪ · ə | Steady /a/ in es/it/ms; English alone gives it four values (cat, father, make, about). |
| 2 | b | b | b · β | Everywhere /b/; Spanish softens it between vowels. |
| 3 | c | c | k · s · θ · t͡ʃ · t͡s | The chameleon: /k/ or /s/ (en/fr), /k/ or /θ/ (es), /k/ or /t͡ʃ/ (it), /t͡s/ (de), always /t͡ʃ/ (ms). |
| 4 | d | d | d · ð · t | Spanish softens it to /ð/ between vowels; German devoices it finally. |
| 5 | e | e | e · ɛ · ə · iː | French and Malay default it to schwa; English 'magic e' is silent. |
| 6 | f | f | f | The best-behaved letter in the alphabet. |
| 7 | g | g | ɡ · d͡ʒ · ʒ · x · ɣ | Hard/soft split in four languages, four different softs. |
| 8 | h | h | h · | Silent in French, Spanish and Italian; real in English, German, Malay. |
| 9 | i | i | i · ɪ · aɪ · j | English alone reads it /aɪ/ (time). |
| 10 | j | j | d͡ʒ · ʒ · x · j | Four languages, four sounds — the least portable letter. |
| 11 | k | k | k | Reliable, but Italian and Spanish barely use it; French only in loans. |
| 12 | l | l | l | Reliable. English darkens it finally (ɫ); Spanish ll is a different sound. |
| 13 | m | m | m | Reliable — and nasalises the vowel before it in French (om, am). |
| 14 | n | n | n · ŋ | Reliable; nasalises vowels in French; ng in five languages = /ŋ/. |
| 15 | o | o | o · ɔ · əʊ · ɒ | Clean in es/it/ms; English splits it four ways. |
| 16 | p | p | p · pʰ | Aspirated at the start of English/German stressed syllables, plain elsewhere. |
| 17 | q | q | k | Never travels without u — except in Malay loans (Quran). |
| 18 | r | r | r · ɾ · ʁ · ɹ | Four articulations across six languages — the accent-defining letter. |
| 19 | s | s | s · z · ʃ · ʒ | Voices between vowels (fr/de/it/en), turns /ʃ/ in German st-/sp-. |
| 20 | t | t | t · tʰ · s · ɾ | French -tion says /s/; American English flaps it between vowels. |
| 21 | u | u | u · y · ʌ · ʊ · | French reads plain u as /y/ — the classic giveaway. |
| 22 | v | v | v · f · b | German reads it /f/ (Vater); Spanish merges it with b. |
| 23 | w | w | w · v | German reads it /v/ (Wasser); Romance languages only borrowed it. |
| 24 | x | x | · z · s | /ks/, or /z/ starting English words (xylophone); silent finally in French. |
| 25 | y | y | j · i · ɪ · aɪ · ʏ | Consonant and vowel; German reads it /ʏ/ (Physik). |
| 26 | z | z | z · θ · t͡s · s | English /z/, Spanish /θ/, German AND Italian /t͡s/. |
Most used combinations
The sequences you'll meet constantly — learn them as units.
| Sequence | Sound | What's going on | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| sh · ch · th (en) | — | English's workaround for missing letters: digraphs for /ʃ t͡ʃ θ ð/. | ship, church, think, this |
| sch · ch (de) | — | German trigraph /ʃ/ and the two-faced ch (ich vs ach). | Schule, ich, Bach |
| gn · gl(i) · sc(i) (it) | — | Italian's palatal team: /ɲ/, /ʎ/, /ʃ/. | gnocchi, figlio, pesce |
| ng · ny · sy (ms) | — | Malay digraphs: /ŋ/, /ɲ/, /ʃ/ — and ngg is /ŋɡ/, two sounds. | dengan, banyak, syukur |
Rules of the system
How the signs behave together.
| Sequence | Sound | What's going on | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| é è ê ë à ç … | — | French extensions: accents change sound (é /e/ vs è /ɛ/), mark lost letters (ê = old es: forêt/forest), or split homophones (a/à). ç forces /s/ before a o u. | français, forêt, où |
| ä ö ü ß | — | German extensions: umlauts are DIFFERENT VOWELS (a/ä distinguish words: Apfel/Äpfel), not decoration; ß is /s/ after long vowels. | schön, Straße, fünf |
| ñ ¿ ¡ á é í ó ú | — | Spanish extensions: ñ is its own letter /ɲ/; accents mark stress only (never sound); inverted ¿ ¡ open questions and exclamations. | año, ¿qué?, ¡hola! |
| à è é ì ò ù | — | Italian extensions: grave accents mark final stress (città) and split monosyllables (e 'and' vs è 'is'). Native Italian never uses j k w x y. | perché, città, è |
| double letters | — | Italian doubles are LONGER SOUNDS (pala/palla — different words); English/French/Spanish doubles are mostly spelling history; German doubles mark the previous vowel as SHORT. |
Incompatible combinations
What this writing system does not allow — knowing the impossible prunes the search space.
| Sequence | Sound | What's going on | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| q without u | — | In all six languages native q must be followed by u (qu-). Only loanwords break it (Iraq, Quran). |