Pronunciation

This course uses the Romanized version of Dothraki, and while most letters are pronounced as they are in English, there are some key differences. See the charts below for examples of Dothraki pronunciation. Please note that many Dothraki words have multiple pronunciation variants, often depending on whether the speaker is native or non-native. Khaleesi, for example, has three separate pronunciations: khal-ee-si, khal-i-si, and kal-i-si. You will also hear both khal and kal used for the word khal.

Double Consonants and Vowels

Whenever you see a consonant or vowel doubled in Dothraki, each segment is pronounced fully.

For consonants, think about how you say the letter s in the words misunderstood versus misspent.

Remember that this distinction is important, as the doubling of a consonant can change the meaning of a word.

jelli
cheese

jeli
lemon

When consonants such as ch, kh, sh, th, and zh are doubled, they become cch, kkh, ssh, tth, and zzh respectively.

In vowel clusters, each vowel sound is pronounced consecutively, whether the vowels are the same or different. This means that a word like krazaaj technically has three syllables (kra-za-aj), all given full voice. Any vowel can appear next to any other vowel. Some (but not all) examples are shown below.

As an important spelling note, in reading George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire, you may occasionally come across a Dothraki word that utilizes the spelling jh, such as Jhogo, one of Khal Drogo’s bloodriders. In developing a consistent Romanization system for the HBO series, the spelling jh was respelled zh. Thus, what is spelled Jhogo in the books will be spelled Zhogo here, and vice versa.

Stress

Stress is the emphasis placed on syllables in spoken language. In English, just think about how you say the word EMphasis: the stress falls on the first syllable. Generally, stress in Dothraki follows these rules:

• When a word ends in a vowel, the stress falls on the first syllable: Ataki, HAVzi
• When a word ends in a consonant, the stress falls on the final syllable: laJAK, m’athchomaroON
• When the penultimate syllable is a heavy syllable (a syllable that consists of a consonant-vowel-consonant combination before another consonant) and the word ends in a vowel, the penultimate syllable will be stressed: zhaVORsa, voSECchi

There are a few other exceptions to the above rules, but these rules will cover most of the new words you come across in Dothraki. Listen carefully to the audio links attached to each word to hear the proper stress on words.