Lithuanian Pronunciation
Lithuanian is one of the most phonetic languages in Europe — what you read is what you say. This guide walks through the 32-letter alphabet, the nine special characters with audio examples, and the few sounds English speakers find tricky.
32 letters
The Latin alphabet without Q, W, and X, plus nine accented letters unique to Lithuanian.
- A
- Ą
- B
- C
- Č
- D
- E
- Ę
- Ė
- F
- G
- H
- I
- Į
- Y
- J
- K
- L
- M
- N
- O
- P
- R
- S
- Š
- T
- U
- Ų
- Ū
- V
- Z
- Ž
The nine accented letters
Tap any example to hear it pronounced by a native voice.
- Ą ąA nosinė
A long "ah", like the a in “father”. The hook (nosinė) marks length, not nasality.
Žąsisgoose - Č čČ
Like "ch" in “church”.
Česnakasgarlic - Ę ęE nosinė
A long, open "eh", like a stretched a in “bad”.
Apsiniaukęcloudy - Ė ėE su tašku
A clear, long "eh" — closer to the a in “face” without the y-glide.
Saulėsun - Į įI nosinė
A long "ee", like the ee in “see”.
Įinto - Š šŠ
Like "sh" in “ship”.
Šuodog - Ų ųU nosinė
A long "oo", like the oo in “moon”.
Jūsųyour (plural) - Ū ūU ilgoji
Also a long "oo". Same sound as ų; the spelling differs by grammar, not pronunciation.
Sūnusson - Ž žŽ
Like the s in “measure” or the j in French “jour”.
Žaliagreen
Lithuanian has free stress and pitch accent.
Unlike most European languages, Lithuanian stress is not fixed to a particular syllable — it can fall on any syllable, and even shifts between grammatical forms of the same word. On long syllables, the language also distinguishes between a rising and falling pitch.
Don’t try to memorize stress rules. Listen to the recorded audio in every lesson and mimic the rhythm — your ear will pick it up far faster than your conscious mind.
What trips up English speakers
- Y is a vowel, not a consonant
In Lithuanian, “y” is always a long "ee" sound — the same as Į. Never the y in “yellow”.
- No silent letters
Every letter you see is pronounced. There are no silent e’s and no doubled-letter shortcuts.
- C is always “ts”
C is pronounced like the ts in “cats” — never like an s or k.
- R is rolled
A short flick of the tongue, like the Spanish or Italian r. Never the soft English r.
- Stress moves around
Lithuanian stress isn’t fixed to one syllable like in French or Polish. It can fall almost anywhere and even shifts between forms of the same word. Listen to native audio and copy the rhythm.
- How many letters are in the Lithuanian alphabet?
- Lithuanian uses 32 letters. The Latin alphabet without Q, W, and X, plus nine special characters: Ą, Č, Ę, Ė, Į, Š, Ų, Ū, and Ž.
- What do the hooks under Ą, Ę, Į, Ų mean?
- They are called nosinės (“nasal marks”) and historically marked nasal vowels. In modern Lithuanian they no longer change the sound nasally — they simply make the vowel long.
- Is Lithuanian pronunciation hard for English speakers?
- The sounds are mostly familiar to English speakers. The trickier parts are the rolled R, the unpredictable stress, and the pitch accent on long syllables. Hearing audio early and often is the best way to internalize the rhythm.
- How do I type Lithuanian special characters?
- On phones, hold the base letter (a, c, e, i, s, u, z) to reveal the accented version. On desktop, install the Lithuanian keyboard layout in your system settings, or use the on-screen accent keyboard inside Labas! lessons.
Ready to hear it in context?
Every word and sentence in Labas! comes with native audio, so the sounds you just learned start landing immediately.