Esperanto’s six marked letters are ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, and ŭ. The first five carry a circumflex; ŭ carries a breve. Each is an independent letter with its own sound, uppercase form, letter name, and place in alphabetical order—not a decorative version of an unmarked letter.
All six belong to the foundational alphabet. Their frequency differs—ĥ is relatively uncommon, for example—but rarity does not make a letter unofficial or optional.
The six-letter map
| Letter | Name | Basic value | Contrast | Typical example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ĉ ĉ | ĉo | /tʃ/ | c /ts/ | ĉambro, “room” |
| Ĝ ĝ | ĝo | /dʒ/ | g /g/ | ĝardeno, “garden” |
| Ĥ ĥ | ĥo | /x/ | h /h/ | ĥoro, “choir” |
| Ĵ ĵ | ĵo | /ʒ/ | j /j/ | ĵurnalo, “newspaper” |
| Ŝ ŝ | ŝo | /ʃ/ | s /s/ | ŝipo, “ship” |
| Ŭ ŭ | ŭo | /w/ | u /u/ | aŭ, “or” |
These values are (neutral) across ordinary registers. What may vary with accent is the precise phonetic realization, not which letter or phonemic category a word contains.
Ĉu vi povas montri al mi la ĝardenon?
Can you show me the garden?
Ŝi ĵus aĉetis freŝajn legomojn.
She has just bought fresh vegetables.
Morgaŭ la ĥoro kantos en la preĝejo.
Tomorrow the choir will sing in the church.
That short set already shows all six marked letters. None can be silently stripped away without changing the written word.
Ĉ and ĝ: two affricates, two whole letters
Ĉ represents /tʃ/, the sound at the start and end of English church. Plain c represents /ts/. Ĝ represents /dʒ/, approximately the sound at the start of English job, while plain g always has /g/ as in go.
La caro veturis en malnova ĉaro.
The tsar rode in an old cart.
Caro/ĉaro is a minimal spelling and sound contrast. The circumflex alone distinguishes the first consonant and the meaning.
Mi ĝojas, ke la gasto jam alvenis.
I’m glad that the guest has already arrived.
The contrast inside this sentence is equally systematic: ĝ in ĝojas has /dʒ/, while g in gasto has /g/. English spelling habits cannot predict the Esperanto values; the actual letters do.
Ĥ and ĵ: sounds English writes inconsistently
Ĥ represents the voiceless velar fricative /x/, comparable to the consonant in Scots loch. It is a full member of the alphabet but occurs in relatively few everyday roots. Historical and modern usage also contains established k-variants for some words, such as ĥemio/kemio. This is lexical variation: it does not license replacing every ĥ mechanically with k.
En la universitato ŝi studas kemion kaj kantas en ĥoro.
At the university she studies chemistry and sings in a choir.
Here kemio illustrates a conventional k-form, while ĥoro retains ĥ. Both choices are lexical, so consult a reliable dictionary rather than inventing a global substitution rule.
Ĵ represents /ʒ/, the consonant in the middle of English vision. Plain j, by contrast, represents /j/, like English y in yes.
La juna ĵurnalisto faris bonan demandon.
The young journalist asked a good question.
Mi ĵuras, ke mi legis la juran dokumenton.
I swear that I read the legal document.
In the second sentence, ĵuras “swear” and juran “legal” sharply contrast ĵ and j in a natural context.
— Ĉu tiu vorto komenciĝas per j aŭ ĵ? — Per ĵ: ĵurnalo.
— Does that word begin with j or ĵ? — With ĵ: ĵurnalo.
Ŝ and ŭ: a consonant and a glide
Ŝ is /ʃ/, like English sh. Plain s is always /s/. Esperanto therefore writes the distinction with one letter each.
Post ŝako mi metis la ludpecojn en sakon.
After chess, I put the playing pieces in a bag.
The pair ŝako/sako differs only in its first letter: “chess” versus “bag.”
Ŭ is not the vowel u. It is a nonsyllabic /w/-like glide and, in ordinary Esperanto words, occurs after a vowel, especially in aŭ and eŭ. It does not form a syllable of its own and does not take stress. Uppercase Ŭ still exists—for example in all-capitals text—even though ordinary Esperanto words do not begin with ŭ.
Aŭ ŝi venos hodiaŭ, aŭ ŝi telefonos morgaŭ.
Either she will come today, or she will call tomorrow.
Eŭropaj gastoj vizitos la muzeon baldaŭ.
European guests will visit the museum soon.
Uppercase forms and alphabetical identity
The uppercase forms are Ĉ, Ĝ, Ĥ, Ĵ, Ŝ, Ŭ. Case never removes the diacritic. A capital C is not a substitute for Ĉ, and an all-caps heading must preserve every mark.
ĜIS BALDAŬ, ŜIMON!
SEE YOU SOON, ŜIMON!
Alphabetically, each marked letter follows its plain partner: c, ĉ; g, ĝ; h, ĥ; j, ĵ; s, ŝ; u, ŭ. See alphabetical order and dictionaries for full collation practice.
Unicode, h-system, and x-system
Write Unicode letters in finished text: (neutral) Mi ĝojas ĝis morgaŭ. When authentic characters cannot be produced, the Fundamento provides the h-system: (fallback) Mi ghojas ghis morgau. The newer x-system provides unambiguous reversible input: (technical input) Mi gxojas gxis morgaux.
The h-system and x-system encode target letters; they do not create alternative pronunciations. The sequence sx typed into a converter is intended to become the single letter ŝ, not to be pronounced /sks/.
La konvertilo ŝanĝis la provizoran x-sisteman tekston al ĝusta Unikodo.
The converter changed the temporary x-system text into correct Unicode.
Common Mistakes
1. Omitting a circumflex because it seems decorative. This can produce a different word.
❌ Mi metis la ŝakpecojn en ŝakon.
Incorrect for the intended meaning — I put the chess pieces into chess.
✅ Mi metis la ŝakpecojn en sakon.
I put the chess pieces in a bag.
2. Reading plain j like English j. Esperanto separates j /j/ from ĵ /ʒ/.
❌ Mi prononcas juna kun la sono de ĵ.
Incorrect — pronouncing juna with the sound of ĵ.
✅ En juna estas j; en ĵurnalo estas ĵ.
Juna has j; ĵurnalo has ĵ.
3. Treating ŭ as a full vowel. It is a glide and does not add a syllable.
❌ Mi prononcas hodiaŭ kvazaŭ ŭ estus aparta u-vokalo.
Incorrect — pronouncing hodiaŭ as though ŭ were a separate u vowel.
✅ Mi prononcas la finan aŭ en hodiaŭ kiel unu silabon.
I pronounce the final aŭ in hodiaŭ as one syllable.
4. Replacing every ĥ with k by personal rule. Some roots have established variants; others require the form recorded for that word.
❌ Mi aŭtomate anstataŭigas ĉiun ĥ per k.
Incorrect — I automatically replace every ĥ with k.
✅ Mi kontrolas en vortaro, ĉu konkreta vorto havas k-variaĵon.
I check a dictionary to see whether a particular word has a k-variant.
5. Losing marks in uppercase text. Uppercase diacritic letters keep their diacritics.
❌ GIS BALDAU!
Incorrect — the uppercase text has lost the diacritics.
✅ ĜIS BALDAŬ!
SEE YOU SOON!
Key Takeaways
Treat ĉ, ĝ, ĥ, ĵ, ŝ, ŭ as six complete letters. Their marks carry lexical and phonological information, their uppercase forms preserve those marks, and their alphabet positions are distinct. Use Unicode normally; label h-system and x-system representations only when discussing fallback or input technology.
Related Topics
- The Esperanto AlphabetA1 — Learn Esperanto’s 28 letters, their names and order, and why the six diacritic letters count as letters in their own right.
- One Letter, One SoundA1 — Understand Esperanto’s regular sound–spelling relationship without confusing a stable phoneme with mechanically identical pronunciation.
- The X-SystemA1 — How to encode Esperanto’s six diacritic letters with x, convert the result safely, and know when the fallback is appropriate.
- The H-SystemA2 — How the Fundamento's fallback spelling represents Esperanto's six diacritic letters, and when modern writers should use it.
- C, Ĉ, and ĜA1 — How to produce and distinguish Esperanto c [ts], ĉ [tʃ], and ĝ [dʒ] as three stable affricate consonants.
- The Semivowel ŬA2 — How Ŭ forms short glides after A and E, affects syllable counting, and differs from full vowel U.