How many letters are in the Estonian alphabet? The answer might surprise you

The Estonian alphabet is something we learn in early childhood, but many people don't know exactly how many letters it actually contains. The Estonian alphabet is not entirely fixed and contains both native and foreign letters. The answer often surprises even those who have used Estonian their whole lives.

The Estonian alphabet is something familiar to everyone, taught from kindergarten through the early grades of school. Yet many people later ask themselves how many letters the Estonian alphabet actually contains — and the answer is not as straightforward as it might first appear.

Native and foreign letters

The Estonian alphabet officially consists of 32 letters, which are divided into two groups. The basic alphabet contains 23 letters: A, B, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, R, S, Š, Z, Ž, T, U, V, and in addition four letters characteristic of Estonian — Ä, Ö, Ü and Õ. Thus, there are a total of 27 native Estonian letters.

In addition to the native letters, the Estonian alphabet contains foreign letters: C, Q, W, X and Y. These are used mainly in words of foreign origin and proper names, and they are an official part of the alphabet, though they generally do not appear in native Estonian words.

Why the answer surprises

Many people remember only 23–25 letters from their school days, because foreign letters were not always given the same attention as native letters. Furthermore, some people confuse the Estonian alphabet with the Latin alphabet, which is considerably longer. The letters characteristic of Estonian — Õ, Ä, Ö and Ü — distinguish our alphabet from many other European languages and give Estonian its distinctive sound.

According to linguists, it is important to remember that an alphabet is not simply a list of letters — it reflects the history of a language, loanwords and cultural influences. The shape of the Estonian alphabet has developed over centuries, and its current form is established in Estonian orthography rules.