Catalan/Alphabet

The Catalan alphabet consists of twenty-six basic letters. All comparisons to English assume a General American pronunciation.

Letter	IPA	Name	English comparison
A a	/a/ or /ə/	a	a in father when stressed; a in about otherwise (schwa)
B b	/b/, /p/	be or be alta	p as in pat the end of the word; b as in ball elsewhere, but softer
C c	/k/, /s/	ce	c as in ceiling before e or i; k as in skate elsewhere
Ç ç	/s/	ce trencada	c as in ceiling (not considered a basic letter)
D d	/d/, /t/	de	t as in tile at the end of the word; th as in there elsewhere
E e	/e/, /ɛ/, /ə/	e	e as in pencil or ai as in paint when stressed; a as in about otherwise (schwa)
F f	/f/	efa	f as in feather
G g	/g/, /dʒ/ or /ʒ/	ge	j as in jacket or s as in measure before e or i; g as in game elsewhere
H h	—	hac	silent
I i	/i/, /j/	i or i llatina	y as in you before vowels; ea as in eat elsewhere
J j	/dʒ/ or /ʒ/	jota	j as in jacket or s as in measure
K k	/k/	ca	k as in skate; only used in foreign words
L l	/l/	ela	l as in bell; always "dark"
M m	/m/	ema	m as in mother
N n	/n/	ena	n as in night
O o	/o/, /ɔ/, /u/	o	o as in phone or o as in pore when stressed; oo as in racoon elsewhere
P p	/p/	pe	p as in span
Q q	/k/	cu	k as in skate; always before u/ü
R r	/r/, /ɾ/	erra	fully trilled word-initially; t in bottle elsewhere
S s	/s/, /z/	essa	z as in zipper between vowels; s as in sample elsewhere
T t	/t/	te	t as in star
U u	/u/, /w/	u	w as in water before vowels; oo as in loot elsewhere
V v	/v/ or /b/	ve or ve baixa	v as in vine or b as in ball but softer
W w	/w/	ve doble	w as in water
X x	/ʃ/, /ks/	ics or xeix	sh as in ship; x as in taxi in some words
Y y	—	i grega	Only used in the digraph ny to represent /ɲ/ (roughly like canyon)
Z z	/z/	zeta	z as in zipper