The Navajo Alphabet :: Learn Navajo

There are 36 characters in the Navajo alphabet.

A, B, CH, CH', D, Dl, Dz, E, G, Gh, H, Hw, I, J, K, K’, Kw, L, Ł, M, N, O, S, Sh, T, T’, Tł, Tł’, Ts, Ts’, W, X, Y, Z, Zh, ’

There are 4 Navajo Vowels.

A, E, I, O

These are all the consonants in the Navajo alphabet.

B, C, D, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, S, T, W, X, Y, Z, Ł, ’

Description for diacritical markings.

Short vowel combinations with special pronunciation.

ei, oi, ai, ao

Combinations of consonants that make one sound.

ch, dl, dz, gh, hw, kw, sh, ts, tł, zh

There are 5 glottalized consonants. The ( ’ ) makes the sound stop when you are saying a word.

k’, t’, ch’, ts’, tł’

Navajo Alphabet Reference

	Letter	Navajo	English	English Sound Equivalents
1	A	abe'	milk	like /a/ in art
2	B	béésh	knife	like /p/ in spot
3	CH	chizh	fire wood	like /ch/ in child
4	CH'	ch’ah	hat
5	D	dibé	sheep	like /t/ in stop
6	Dl	dleesh	white clay	like /tl/ in belittleing
7	Dz	dził	mountain	like /dz/ in ads
8	E	e’e’aah	west	like /e/ in set
9	G	gah	rabbit	like /k/ in sky
10	Gh	hooghan	hogan/home
11	H	hosh	cactus	like /h/ in harsh or huge
12	Hw	Hwééldi	Ft. Sumner	like /wh/ in when
13	I	sis	belt	like /i/ in sit
14	J	jeeh	gum	like /j/ in jar
15	K	ké	shoes	/k/ with slight /h/ sound /kh/
16	K'	k’aa’	arrow
17	Kw	kwe’é	right here	like /qu/ in quick
18	L	lájish	gloves	like /l/ in let
19	Ł	łid	smoke	unvoiced /thl/ sound
20	M	ma’ii	coyote	like /m/ in mark
21	N	naaki	two	like /n/ in now
22	O	k’os	clouds	like /o/ in code
23	S	sáanii	women (older)	like /s/ in sun
24	Sh	shash	bear	like /sh/ in shark
25	T	tin	ice	/t/ with slight /x/ sound /tx/
26	T’	t’ááłá’í	one
27	Tł	tłah	lotion/ointment	like /cl/ in closet
28	Tł’	tł’ízí	goat
29	Ts	tsin	stick/wood	like /ts/ in hats
30	Ts’	ts’in	bone
31	W	wólázhiní	black ant
32	X	łitsxo	orange	used to stress the sound of the letters next to it
33	Y	yaa’	lice	like /y/ in yard
34	Z	zas	snow	like /z/ in zero
35	Zh	bízhi’	his/her name	like /s/ in pleasure
36	[’]	(glottal stop)		cut off sound