Guaraní alphabet facts for kids
The Guaraní alphabet is a special system used to write the Guaraní language. This language is spoken mainly in Paraguay and in some countries close by. The alphabet has 33 unique letters.
These letters are:
Understanding the Letters
The Guaraní alphabet has both vowels and consonants, just like English.
Vowels and Tildes
The letters "A", "E", "I", "O", "U", and "Y" are all vowels.
Some of these vowels have a special mark called a tilde (~) on top of them. For example, Ã, Ẽ, Ĩ, Õ, Ũ, and Ỹ. When a vowel has a tilde, it means you say it with a nasal sound. This is similar to how some sounds are made through your nose in English.
Consonants and the Glottal Stop
All the other letters in the alphabet are consonants.
There is also a special mark that looks like an apostrophe (ʼ). This mark makes a sound called a glottal stop. A glottal stop is a sound made by briefly closing the vocal cords in your throat. It's like the sound in the middle of "uh-oh!"
