Slovak for foreigners, Pronunciation guide, lesson 4
Soft spelling rule
Before e,í and i you usually pronounce d, t, n, l as soft ď, ť, ň, ľ. In othe words the soft sign is omitted in the spelling :
ď dedina, sedem, vidím
ť otec, deti, tisíc
ň nemá, nič
Voiced and voiceless sounds
In each of these pairs the first consonant letter is normally voiced in pronunciation(with humming vocal chords) the second is its nearest voiceless equivalent.
b-p, d-t, ď-ť, g-k, h-ch, v-f, z-s, ž-š, dz-c, dž- č
The voiced consonant letters are normally pronounced voicesly at the end of the word (before a pause).
Dub (dup), hrad (hrat), sneh (snech), muž (muš)
The same happens to these consonants when followed by one of the voiceless consonants in this list:
Včera (fčera), vták (fták), ľahký (ľachkí), ťažký (ťaškí)
The reverse occurs in certain words, where the first consonant becomes voiced to match the second:
Kde(gde), prosba (prozba), but not before v: svoj ( svoj ) one´s own
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