Transliteration of Basque
A correspondence table between the Basque script and Latin letters: 32 letters, with names and sounds. The rendering is practical — it exists so you can read aloud and be understood, not to meet a scholarly standard.
Basque character → Latin
| Character | Name | In Latin | How it sounds |
|---|---|---|---|
| A a | a | a as in father | A clean "a" — unstressed syllables keep it too; there is none of the reduction English vowels drift into |
| B b | be | b as in bay | A regular "b"; between vowels the lips barely close, so it comes out lighter than the English b |
| C c | ce | k in loanwords only: camera | Native words never use c: camera, keto — all borrowings |
| D d | de | d as in door | A regular "d"; between vowels it softens almost to "dy" |
| E e | e | e as in met | Always "e" as in met, never "ee" |
| F f | efe | f as in off | A regular "f" |
| G g | ge | always hard g, as in go | A regular "g" with no puff of air |
| H h | hache | silent (but always written) | Silent in most dialects; in the northeast of the country it is breathed as an English h |
| I i | i | ee as in see | A clean "ee" in any position |
| J j | jota | y as in yes (dialects: zh or kh) | The norm recommends "y": jaun sounds like "YA-oon". The west says "zh" as in measure, Navarre says a raspy "kh" |
| K k | ka | k as in key | A plain "k", with no puff of air after it |
| L l | ele | l as in let | Like the English l in "let" |
| M m | eme | m as in map | A regular "m" |
| N n | ene | n as in net | A regular "n" |
| Ñ ñ | eñe | ny as in canyon | One sound: "ny" as in canyon |
| O o | o | o as in or | A clean "o" in any position |
| P p | pe | p as in pen | A regular "p" |
| Q q | cu | k in loanwords only: kiwi | Native words never use q |
| R r | erre | short tapped r | A single tap of the tongue — the way an American says the tt in "butter" |
| Rr rr | erre erre | long rolled r | A long trill — a Scottish rolled r, the tongue tip drumming several times |
| S s | esse | soft lisping s (laminal) | An "s" with the tongue flat against the teeth, which sounds almost lisping — put your tongue tip down and say "see" |
| T t | te | t as in ten | A regular "t", tongue tip at the teeth |
| U u | u | oo as in food | A clean "oo" as in food, never the short "u" of "but" |
| V v | uve | b sound, loanwords only | Native words never use v |
| W w | ve doble | w or u, loanwords only | Native words never use w |
| X x | ixa | sh as in ship | Always "sh" as in ship, in any position |
| Y y | i grega | y sound, loanwords only | Native words never use y — the job of the "y" sound belongs to j |
| Z z | zeta | hard apical s | The second "s": tongue tip raised toward the ridge — this one is close to a crisp ordinary English "s" |
| Ts ts | te esse | ts with the soft s | A "ts" said with the soft, slightly lisping s of this alphabet |
| Tx tx | te ixa | ch as in church | A regular "ch" as in church |
| Tz tz | te zeta | ts with the hard s | A "ts" said with the hard, crisp s-sound of z |
| Tt tt | te te | soft palatal ty | A palatalized "ty" with an extra y-glide, the whole tongue pressed to the roof of the mouth |
How practical transliteration differs from the scholarly kind
Any script has several Latin renderings, and they solve different problems. The scholarly one (ISO, GOST) is reversible: the original spelling can be restored character for character — which is why it is full of marks that are not on any keyboard and that nobody ever reads aloud correctly.
The practical one solves the reverse problem: a person reads it aloud and is understood. That is what the table above uses, and that is what our courses use.
What to watch out for
Two s-sounds and three affricates. The heart of Basque phonetics: s and z are two different s-sounds. Each has its own "ts" (ts and tz). And x and tx give "sh" and "ch". Native ears separate them effortlessly, and these six signs unlock half the vocabulary.
The two main traps. h is silent almost everywhere but the norm requires writing it, and j sounds different in every corner of the country.
Vowels: exactly five. a, e, i, o, u sound the same stressed or unstressed, and double vowels are almost nonexistent. The easiest layer of the language.
Soft sounds and the trill. ñ and tt are palatal sounds with a y-glide; they grew out of baby talk and affectionate speech. A matching pair for tt exists for d too, but it is met only a handful of times. rr is the only way to begin a word with a trill: a single r never starts a word.
Read as they look. Nothing to learn here: each sound is exactly the one you expect.
For foreign words. Five letters native words never use: camera, kiwi, video, wifi, yoga. You need them only to read a sign with a borrowing on it.
Frequently asked
How to write Basque text in Latin letters?
Using the table above, character by character. The practical rendering records sound, not spelling, so the original text cannot always be restored from it backwards.
Why do transliterations differ across sources?
Because they solve different problems: the scholarly one is reversible and precise, the practical one is readable, the passport one is fixed by the country's rules. They are not required to agree.