Czech Sounds & Spelling: Háčky, Čárky, and One Stress Rule
Czech looks bristling with accents, but the system underneath is friendlier than English spelling ever was: one letter, one sound, no exceptions worth fearing. Ten minutes here and you can read any Czech word aloud — slowly, but correctly.
Mostly Familiar
The alphabet is Latin, and most letters do what you expect. Two changed jobs: j sounds like English "y" (jak — "yak" — how), and c is always "ts" (cena — "TSE-na" — price). That's the whole list of impostors.
jak, cena, ano, ne
how, price, yes, no
Note: j = y, c = ts — everything else reads as written.
The Háček Letters
The little hat (háček, ˇ) turns a plain letter into its "hushing" cousin — the sounds Polish spells with two letters, Czech does with one:
The Letter ch
ch counts as a single letter with a single sound: the raspy "h" of Scottish loch — chleba (bread) is "KHLE-ba". Czech dictionaries even file it as its own letter, after h.
chleba, chci, kuchyň
bread, I want, kitchen
Note: ch = one raspy sound, wherever it appears.
One Stress Rule
Czech stress always falls on the first syllable: PRA-ha, DO-brý, DĚ-ku-ji. No guessing, no dictionaries, no exceptions — with one charming twist: short prepositions steal the stress from their noun. "To Prague" is do Prahy, said DO-pra-hy, as if it were one word.
Praha → do Prahy
Prague → to Prague
Note: Stress: PRA-ha, but DO-pra-hy — the preposition takes it.
Common Mistakes
- Reading c as "k". Czech c is always "ts": cena is TSE-na, never KE-na.
- English j. Czech j is "y" — jak is "yak", not "jack".
- Wandering stress. Every word starts loud: DĚ-ku-ji, not dě-KU-ji.
What You Can Do Now
You can sound out ano, ne, pivo, čaj and every menu in Prague — slowly but correctly. Next: the long vowels, the softening ě, and the sound only Czech has.