Kazakh Latin alphabet 2021: all 31 letters and how to write them

The 2021 Kazakh Latin alphabet has 31 letters. It replaced the 2017 and 2018 versions with apostrophes and acute accents: the distinctive Kazakh sounds are now written with Ä, Ğ, Ñ, Ö, Ş, Ū, Ü and the pair İ i / I ı. Below are all the letters, example words and common mistakes.

All 31 letters

A a, Ä ä, B b, D d, E e, F f, G g, Ğ ğ, H h, I ı, İ i, J j, K k, L l, M m, N n, Ñ ñ, O o, Ö ö, P p, Q q, R r, S s, Ş ş, T t, U u, Ū ū, Ü ü, V v, Y y, Z z. The letters C, X and W are not part of the alphabet and are used only in foreign words, which keep their original spelling.

How Kazakh letters are written in Latin script

• Ә → Ä ä: әже → äje
• Ғ → Ğ ğ: ғалым → ğalym
• Қ → Q q: қала → qala
• Ң → Ñ ñ: таң → tañ
• Ө → Ö ö: өрік → örık
• Ұ → Ū ū: ұл → ūl
• Ү → Ü ü: үй → üi
• Ш → Ş ş: шар → şar
• І → I ı: іні → ını
• И and Й → İ i: ине → ine, ай → ai
• Ы → Y y: ыдыс → ydys
• Х and Һ → H h, Ж → J j, У → U u

The letter I trap

The alphabet has two different pairs. I ı is the Kazakh І: a dotless capital and a dotless lowercase, for example «Ірімшік» → Irımşık. İ i stands for И and Й: a dotted capital and a regular lowercase i, for example «Ине» → İne. Software that changes letter case automatically often mixes up these pairs, so double-check headings set in capitals.

Letters that are not in the alphabet

Ц, Ч, Щ, Ё, Ю, Я, Э, Ъ and Ь were not included in the 2021 alphabet. According to the published table, they are rendered with letter combinations: Ц → ts, Ч → tş, Щ → ştş, Ё → io, Ю → iu, Я → ia, Э → e, while Ъ and Ь are not written. Spelling rules for loanwords have not been approved yet, so official texts may still change.

How to convert text and choose a font

To convert text letter by letter, use the Cyrillic to Latin converter. For layout you need a font with all the characters Ä Ğ Ñ Ö Ş Ū Ü İ ı — see which fonts are already ready.