SYNOPSIS OF THE GRAMMAR.
The ALPHABET is composed of 28 letters. They are the following:—
A B C Ĉ D E F G Ĝ H Ĥ I J Ĵ K L M N O P R S Ŝ T U V Z and Ŭ.
The VOWELS are always given a long sound; as in the well-known phrase, "Pa, may we go too?" Shorthand students will at once recognise them as the long vowels of "Pitman." Their sound can also be illustrated by—"Bart, Bait, Beat, Boat and Boot."
The following CONSONANTS need special attention. It must be remembered that the sounds given are invariable, because Esperanto spelling is phonetic and each letter has only one sound:—
| The letter | C | is sounded as | in | Czar, or as the "ts" in Bits. |
| " " | Ĉ | " " | Church. | |
| " " | G | " " | Gag; i.e., the hard sound. | |
| " " | Ĝ | " " | George; i.e.,the soft sound. | |
| " " | H | " " | His; i.e., it is aspirated and never mute as in French. | |
| " " | Ĥ | " " | Loch; i.e., the Scotch or German "CH" or Spanish "J." | |
| " " | J | " " | the | English letter Y. Thus Paroloj is sounded Paroloy. |
| " " | Ĵ | " " | the | French J in Bijou or the S in the English word Pleasure. |
| " " | S | " " | in | Sun; never as in Rose (Rozo in Esperanto). |
| " " | Ŝ | " " | in | She. |
The English letters Q, W, X and Y do not exist in Esperanto.
The letter Ŭ is only found in diphthongs—Baldaŭ is sounded Bahldow.
The one remaining point to be mentioned is that "AJ" is the same as in By. "OJ" as in Boy.