THE ALPHABET. - The ordinary English alphabet of 26 letters is used, without accents or other marks. Spelling is phonetic, but the values of certain letters differ from the English values. Roughly, the consonants are sounded as in English, the vowels as in German, Italian or French.

THE CONSONANTS b, d, f, k, l, m, n, p, t, v, w, x, z are pronounced as in English, except that x keeps the ks sound even initially.

c=ts as in tsetse.
g=g in get (never as in gem).
h is always sounded.
j is sounded as in French, that is like s is vision.
r is trilled or clearly pronounced.
s is always sharp, as in a house (never like z, as in to house).
ch as in church.
qu as in queen.
sh as in shall. A hyphen is used in compound words to show that each letter keeps its own sound, as chas-hundo, « hunting-dog ».
y is always a consonant, like the y in yes. Hence mayo is mah-yo, not may-o.

THE VOWELS are a, e, i, o, u and are sounded as in the words father, veil, machine, soul, rule. The southern English tendency to dipthongize the vowels, especially those in veil, soul should be avoided; they should be single sounds as sung on a single note. Listen how a foreigner or a Scotchman pronounces them.
There are two dipthongs in Ido, au and eu. Give each half of the dipthong the sound it would have if standing alone, only making the u shorter and weaker. Thus, au is pronounced ah-oo (something like the ow in cow); eu is pronounced eh-oo.

THE ACCENT or stress of voice falls (1) on the last syllable of the infinitive (-âr, -îr, -ôr);
(2) on the last syllable but one of other words.
(3) But in polysyllabic roots, i and u immediately before a vowel cannot receive the stress.
E.g.: (1) amâr, kredîr, finôr; (2) amâta, kredîta, finôta, esperêble, facînda, jôyo, boâo, muzêo, herôo, dîo, dûo; (3) fôlio, lîlio, mêntio, Itâlia, akadêmio, melôdio, âquo, lînguo, pôtuo, rêvuo.

MANUSCRIPT. - The written forms of certain letters differ slightly in different countries. In international correspondence it is then advisable to choose these forms that most resemble the italic printed letters, especially in the case of capitals; e.g. the small e, g, x, the capital C, F, J, T, S. With regard to figures, the same rule holds. In a nutshell, write clearly and avoid flourishes.