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.

Dothraki letter/English example	Dothraki examples
a between hat and hot; hot (after q)	astat to say qacha firefly
ch mischief	chare ear sachat to divide M’ach! Hi!
d dog (dental)	dothralat to ride adakhat to eat
e grey; bed (after q)	eveth water qevir forest
f feather	fonak hunter hlofa wrist, ankle darif saddle
g good	Gwe! Here!/Let’s go!/Go! khogar clothes
h hand	haj strong tihat to look, to see rhoa animal fih smoke
i machine; grey (after q)	iz poison fati insult qile island
j jungle	jahak braid lajak warrior haj strong
k sky	ko bodyguard akat two fonak hunter
kh Bach	khefat to sneeze zhikhat to be sick rikh rotten
l leg (dental)	lajak warrior malilat to be finished krol flea
m man, jam	m’athchomaroon hello mem sound
n no, men (dental)	ninthqoyi blood sausage majin and then, then
o open; not (after q)	okeo friend qora hand, arm
q sky, but produced deep in the back of the throat	qora hand, arm oqooqo heartbeat fasqoyi destiny
r rolled as in Spanish when at the beginning of the word and followed by a vowel, at the end of the word, or when doubled; everywhere else, tapped	rai hooray rhaesh land, country mori they mhar sore jerriya discussion mithri rest
s see	sajo one’s own horse ase word, command vaes city
sh she	shierak star kisha we hosh giddyup
t stop (dental)	tih eye ataki first astat to say
th thin	thir alive athrokhar fear eveth water
v very, have	vov weapon havzi cat
w water, anyway	awazak screamer zoqwat to kiss
y yes, boy	yer you (sg.) qoy qoyi blood of my blood
z zoo	ziso wound kazga black laz could, can
zh measure	zhavorsa/zhavvorsa dragon afazhi warm rizh son

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.

dd	addrivat to kill
ff	affin when
gg	rhaggat cart
hh	najahheya victory
jj	ajjalan tonight
kk	akka also, as well
ll	jelli cheese
mm	gomma mouth
nn	hanna rose
qq	jaqqa executioner
rr	tolorro bone
ss	disse only, just
tt	esittesak braggart
vv	inavva sister
ww	ewweya olive pit
yy	ayyathat to lift
zz	ezzolat to teach

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.

cch	vosecchi of course not
kkh	lakkhat to chew
ssh	asshekh today
tth	atthirar life
zzh	Havazzhifi Kazga Black Salt Sea

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.

aa	krazaaj mountain
ae	vaes city
ee	avees father (accusative)
ei	dei shallow
ia	chelsian locust
io	chiori woman
oa	choakat to be bitter
oo	m’athchamaroon hello

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.