Breton Letters

Breton Vowel Letters

The Breton alphabet has 6 basic vowel letters: a, e, i, o, u, y. The letter y can function as both a vowel and consonant depending on its position in the word.

Breton Accented Vowel Letters

Breton has 13 accented vowel letters: à, â, é, è, ê, ë, î, ï, ô, ù, û, ü, ÿ (and their uppercase forms). These accents are crucial for correct pronunciation and often change the meaning of words entirely.

Breton Cedilla (ç)

The cedilla (ç, Ç) is used with the letter c to produce the soft /s/ sound before a, o, or u. Examples include "brezhoneg" (Breton), "garçon" (boy), and "leçon" (lesson).

Without the cedilla, the c would be pronounced as /k/ in these contexts.

Breton Ligatures

Breton uses ligatures œ and æ (and their uppercase forms Œ and Æ). The œ appears in words like "cœur" (heart) and "sœur" (sister). The æ is less common in modern Breton.

These ligatures represent the historical combination of two vowels.

Breton Consonant Letters

Breton has 20 consonant letters. Many Breton consonants have pronunciation rules that differ from English, such as silent final consonants and the Breton "r" sound.

Understanding Breton consonant pronunciation is key to speaking Breton correctly.

Special Characters in Breton

Breton writing uses punctuation marks and symbols including period (.), comma (,), question mark (?), exclamation (!), and Breton-specific quotation marks (« ») and (" ").

Breton typography also uses non-breaking spaces before certain punctuation marks.

Digits in Breton

Breton uses the standard Arabic numerals 0–9, with Breton number names: zéro, un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf.

Like German, Breton uses comma (,) as the decimal separator.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)