A compendium of Esperanto sounds

Note that of the 28 letters in the Esperanto alphabet, six have supersigns. These are Ĉ, Ĝ, Ĥ, Ĵ, Ŝ and ŭ.

The following are examples of the sounds in Esperanto. These are .AU files sampled at 8 kHz sampling rate -- hence the relatively poor quality, particularly in sibilant sounds (frequencies above 4 kHz will be garbled).

• A: pala pale
• A: sana healthy
• B: bano bath
• B: rabo robbery
• C: laca tired
• C: caro tsar
• Ĉ: aĉa rotten, despicable
• Ĉ: ĉamo chamois
• D: dato date
• D: ada ongoing
• E: de of, from
• E: pale palely
• F: pafi to shoot
• F: felo fur
• G: agi to act
• G: gemo a gem
• Ĝ: aĝo age (of a person)
• Ĝ: ĝemi to groan
• H: halo hall (large room)
• H: homo person, human being
• Ĥ: ĥoro chorus, choir
• Ĥ: eĥo echo
• I: fina final
• I: ido offspring
• J: jono ion
• J: ejo place (for something)
• Ĵ: ĵus just (in the immediate past)
• Ĵ: aĵo thing, object
• K: kelo cellar
• K: ekbrili to begin to shine
• L: lumo light
• L: rolo role
• M: muso mouse
• M: ema having a tendency toward
• N: nazo nose
• N: dankon thanks
• O: oro gold
• O: povas can (am, is, are able)
• P: porko pig
• P: kapo head
• R: ruza cunning
• R: moro (a) moral
• S: sidi to sit
• S: aso (an) ace (in a deck of cards)
• Ŝ: ŝultro shoulder
• Ŝ: maŝo noose
• T: temi to have as a subject, topic
• T: kato cat
• U: utero womb
• U: multaj many
• Ŭ: hodiaŭ today
• Ŭ: Eŭropo Europe
• V: vazo vase
• V: lavi to wash
• Z: zomi to zoom (in)
• Z: frazo sentence

There are six diphthongs in Esperanto. These are formed by a vowel followed by a semivowel ('j' or 'ŭ'), not by two vowels together, which are to be clearly pronounced as two separate vowels. Americans should have little trouble with these, since what we call 'long vowels' in this country are often diphthongs similar to some of those in Esperanto. Here are examples of the six diphthongs:

• Aj: bonaj good (plural) (like the long 'i' in 'bite')
• Ej: vejno vein (like the long 'a' in 'mate')
• Oj: bojkoti to boycott (like the 'oy' in 'royal')
• Uj: prujno rime ice
• Aŭ: morgaŭ tomorrow
• Eŭ: neŭtrala neutral

Remember that the accent in every Esperanto word (of more than one vowel) falls on the next-to-last vowel. Now try to follow the following passage (304K) from En Ĉinio Batalanta by "Verda Majo" (HASEGAWA Teru) :

Por ni esperantistoj nacianeco estas ne absoluta. Ĝi signifas sole malsamon de lingvo, kutimo, kulturo, haŭtkoloro kaj tiel plu. Ni rigardas nin kiel fratojn de unu granda familio 'homaro'. Ni tion ne teorias, sed sentas. Ekstere ni estas ligitaj de unu sama lingvo, kaj interne de unu sama sento. Ni ankaŭ amegas nian propran patrion. Tamen tiu ĉi amo ne estas tia, kia ne povas kunstari kun amo kaj estimo al aliaj nacioj.

(For us Esperantists nationality is not absolute. It means only a difference of language, custom, culture, skin color and so forth. We look at ourselves as brothers in one great family 'mankind'. For us this is not a theory but a feeling. Externally we are linked by the same language, and internally by the same feeling. We also love our own country. But this love is not such as cannot stand together with love and respect for other nations.)