Luxembourgish pronunciation

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Luxembourgish pronunciation is quite tricky, since it combines German with French and native elements.

If you are familiar with the pronunciation of German, see Luxembourgish pronunciation for German-speakers. It will make life easier for you...

The Luxembourgish alphabet

Letter	IPA	Approximate English Sound
A	a	cup (short), father (long)
Ä	ε	get (or longer)
B	b	ball
	p	pay (at the end of a syllable)
C	k	key
	s	set (before E, I or Y)
D	d	day
	t	tea (at the end of a syllable)
E	ε	get (short)
	É™	action (unstressed)
	e	French été (long)
É/Ê	ε	get (short)
F	f	fair
G	g	go
	Ê’	vision (sometimes when preceding E or I)
	ç/x	(pronounced like CH at the end of a word)
	j	yes (when preceding EG, EN, ER and ESCH)
	k	key (at the end of a syllable)
H	h	house
		silent behind a vowel
I	ɪ	hit (short)
	i	meet (long)
J	j/Ê’	yes or vision
K	k	key
L	l	love
M	m	moon
N	n	no
O	É”	hot (short), law (long)
Ö	ø	French euro (long, in German loan words)
P	p	pay
QU	kw	quick (Q never occurs alone)
R	ʀ	rain (actually a uvular trill or voiced fricative)
	É?	gangsta (behind a vowel and preceding a consonant)
S	z	zoo
	s	see (at the end of a syllable)
T	t	tea
U	ÊŠ	put (short)
	u	fool (long)
	y	French pure (long)
V	f	fair
	v	vet (in foreign words)
W	v	vet
X	ks	fax
Y	Ê?	rounded variant of hit (short)
	y	French pure (long)
	j	yes (sometimes before a vowel)
Z	ʦ	nuts

Special Letter Combinations

Double consonants are always pronounced as one. They indicate that the preceding vowel is short. The only exception to this rule is SS.

Double vowels are pronounced as one, but long. An H behind a vowel has the same effect (in German loan words).
Apart from that, a vowel is usually short when preceding several consonants, long when preceding one consonant.

ÄE/ÄER/ÄR	εə	bear (with an unpronounced R)
AI	aɪ	eye
ÄI	ε:ɪ	pay with a long A
AU	aÊŠ	cow
CH	ç	voiceless variant of j, similar to ship
	x	Scottish loch, Spanish hijo (after A, AU, O or U)
	k	key (at the beginning of a word, but not before E and I)
CHS	ks	fax
CK	k	key
EEË	eə	German Ehe
ËEE	əe	German geebnet
EI	aɪ	eye
ÉI	εɪ	pay
ER	É?	gangsta (at the end of a word with more than one syllable)
IE/IER/IR	iÉ™	beer (with an unpronounced R)
IG	iç	like Luxembourgish "ich" at the end of a word, but not in compounds
IGT	içt	like Luxembourgish "icht" at the end of a word
NG	Å‹	sing
NK	Å‹k	bank
OI	ɔɪ	boy
OU	oÊŠ	low
PH	f	photo
RH/RRH	ʀ	pronounced like the letter R
SCH	ʃ	ship
SP	ʃp	fish pond (at the beginning of a word)
ST	ʃt	fish tank (at the beginning of a word)
TH	t	tea
TI	ʦj	suits you (in words of Latin origin if the I is unstressed and it comes before a vowel)
TZ	ʦ	nuts
UE/UER/UR	uÉ™	sure (with an unpronounced R)

Note that loan words are pronounced (almost) as in the original language. And Luxembourgish has many loan words from English, French and German...

And last but not least some Luxembourgish specialities:

• German is not the only language, where nouns are capitalized, the same is done in Lux.
• An N (or two) at the end of a word is left out when it does not precede D, H, N, T, Z, a vowel or a punctuation mark. Examples:
  • Mir sinn doheem. (We're at home)
  • Si si gär doheem. (They like being at home)
  • Neen, ech ginn dohin. (No, I'm going there)
  • Dohi gi si gär. (They like going there)
  • Si lafen a spillen och. (They also run and play)
  • Mir wësse vill, si wëssen näischt. (We know a lot, they know nothing)
  • Mir spillen haut, si spille mar. (We'll play today, they'll play tomorrow)
• Sometimes a single S is introduced between two words, which also exists in Bavarian:
  • Wann s du mech frees... (If you ask me)
  • So mir wéini s du gees... (Tell me where you're going)
  • Ob s du wëlls... (If you like it)

To listen to a short Luxembourgish text, see our Sounds of the World project.

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