Tetum alphabet

The Tetum alphabet is used to write Tetum. It is based on the Latin alphabet and contains 24 letters:

Majuscule Forms (also called uppercase or capital letters)

A

B

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

Ñ

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

X

Z

Minuscule Forms (also called lowercase or small letters)

a

b

d

e

f

g

h

i

j

k

l

m

n

ñ

o

p

r

s

t

u

v

w

x

z

International Phonetic Alphabet values

a

b

d

e

f

ɡ

h

i

ʒ

k

l

m

n

ɲ

o

p

ɾ

s

t

u

v

w

ʃ

z

The letters are named: á, bé, dé, é, efe, ge, agá, í, jota, kapa, ele, eme, ene, ene ho til, ó, pé, erre, ese, té, ú, vé, vé-kaduak, xis, zé.

The accented letters á, é, í, ó, and ú are also used.

The letter W only occurs in some words of dialectal or foreign origin.

The letters G, J, Ñ, P, V, X, and Z and the digraphs LL (ele-kaduak, /ʎ/) and RR (erre-kaduak, /r/) only occur in loanwords.

The letters C (sé), Q (ké), and Y (ípsilon) are not used in Tetum, except in foreign proper names and international symbols.

The apostrophe (kapa-tatolan) is used to denote glottal stop.

External links

• The standard orthography of the Tetum language (PDF)