Papiamento Orthography - Spelling-to-sound Correspondences - Consonants and Consonant Combinations

Consonants and Consonant Combinations

Spelling Value in Papiamento (Aruba)
(IPA)
Examples Value in Papiamentu (Curaçao, Bonaire)
(IPA)
Examples Exceptions
b /b/ bala, caba /b/ bibu, fabor
ca before ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩ /s/ merece, haci /s/ Cecilia In Papiamento, the ⟨c⟩ has a /ʃ/ sound in words ending in -cion.
elsewhere /k/ caminda, cla /k/ Caracas
chb /tʃ/ chikito /tʃ/ chapi
d /d/ documento, dal /d/ duru, dede In Papiamento, the ⟨d⟩ has a /t/ sound when final in words ending in -dad, -tad, -tud. In Papiamentu, they are written as -dat, -tat and -tut.
djb /dʒ/ djaca /dʒ/ djente
f /f/ fama /f/ fòrki
g before ⟨e⟩, ⟨i⟩, final /x/ gesto, mag /x/ margen, brùg
before unstressed ⟨e⟩, elsewhere /ɡ/ garganta, sanger /ɡ/ gosa, mangel
h /h/ hasta, habilidad /h/ hari, heru
ja /j/
/x/
jong, jas
Juan
/j/
/x/
Jan Thiel
Julia
Some places still maintain their old spelling, e.g. Salinja. Here the ⟨nj⟩ is pronouned /ɲ/.
k /k/ kishiki, kere /k/ kenta, sekreto
l /l/ lista, laba /l/ lesa, kla
m /m/ mucha, premio /m/ man, lampi
n before ⟨co⟩, ⟨cu⟩, ⟨g⟩, ⟨k⟩,
final except after stressed vowel
/ŋ/ mango, pan /ŋ/ anker, bon In Papiamento, ⟨c⟩ followed by ⟨o⟩ or ⟨u⟩ would be pronounced as a /k/ (see below), thus having the same effect on the ⟨n⟩ as ⟨k⟩ would.
elsewhere /n/ natural, tene, algun /n/ nechi, hende, tempran
ñ /ɲ/ aña, soño /ɲ/ baña, ñapa
p /p/ pipa, adopta /p/ palu, sapu
qa /k/ quesillo /k/ Quebec
r /r/ tera, rosa /r/ barba, poder
s /s/ saya, sucu /s/ krus, pasa In Papiamento, the ⟨s⟩ has a /ʃ/ sound in words ending in -sion. In Papiamentu, it is written as -shon.
sc /s/ adolescente, piscina
shb /ʃ/ shimis /ʃ/ shete
t /t/ tin, tata /t/ trapi, ritmo
v /b/
/v/
viuda
divorcio
/v/ verbo, vitamina
w /w/ wega /w/ wowo
xa /kʃ/ conexion, reflexionc In any other loan word, the ⟨x⟩ maintains its pronunciation as it is in its language of origin.
y /j/ yama, haya /j/ yuda, kayente
z /z/ zona /z/ zeta In Papiamento, the ⟨z⟩ has a /s/ sound in words ending in -eza, -anza or with a ⟨z⟩. In Papiamentu, they are written as -esa and -ansa.
zjb /ʒ/ zjeito /ʒ/ zjar
  • ^a The letter ⟨c⟩ appears almost only in proper names in Papiamentu. The letters ⟨j⟩, ⟨q⟩ and ⟨x⟩ are exclusively used in loan words and names in both dialects.
  • ^b ⟨ch⟩, ⟨dj⟩, ⟨sh⟩ and ⟨zj⟩ are the four official digraphs of Papiamento/u.
  • ^c Words ending in -xion are the only words in Papiamento with the letter ⟨x⟩.

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