Lithuanian Pronunciation Guide

By Dick Oakes

A a, , B b, C c, , D d, E e, , , F f, G g,
H h, I i, , J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, O o, P p,
R r, S s, , T t, U u, , , V v,
Y y, Z z,

Lithuanian, the official language of Lithuania since 1918, has 32 letters, and belongs to the Baltic subfamily of the
Indo-European family of languages. Lithuanian is spoken by approximately 3 million people in Lithuania and by
an additional half-million in other parts of the world, mostly in the Western Hemisphere.

Letters and dipthongs not listed below are pronounced approximately as in English.

A, a - a as in father or a as in car (ah, aw)

, - a as in above (uh)
E, e - ya as in yak, or a as in apple, or ye as in yellow, or e as in bed
, - e as in ketchup - the alternate pronunciation (same as a in man)
, - e as in parquet (ey)
I, i - i as in pin (ih)
, - i as in machine (ee)
O, o - o as in note
U, u - u as in put
, - u as in duke (oo)
, - u as in duke (oo)

C, c - c as in dance (ts)
, - c as in cello (ch)
Y, y - c as in cello (ch)

J, j - y as in yes
R, r - rr as in arroyo (but the Spanish trilled r)
, - s as in sugar (sh)
Y, y - y as in city (ee)
, - z as in azure (zh)

DIGRAPHS:

ch - ch as in loch (gutteral kh)

dz - dz as in adze
d - dg as in edge (dzh)

DIPTHONGS:

ai - ai as in kaiser
au - au as in sauerkraut
ei - ei as in seine (ay)
ie - ea as in year
ou - oa as in koala
ui - ui as in ruin