Sounds & Spelling

Consonants and vowels

Ilokano has 17 consonants: b, d, f, g, h, k, l, m, n, ng, p, q, r, s, t, w, y. ng is a single sound, like the ng in "sing," never a hard g. q stands for the glottal stop — the quick catch in your throat between the two syllables of "uh-oh."

f and h only show up in words borrowed from Spanish or English, and are often swapped for p and k in casual speech (filipino/pilipino, kafe/kape).

There are 5 vowels: i, e, a, o, u. In Constantino's dictionary data, o and u are often interchangeable at the end of a word.

• áso

  dog

  pronounced [qá:so] — the glottal stop before a word-initial vowel is automatic and not written

• kafé / kapé

  coffee

  a Spanish loanword; f freely alternates with p

Stress and length

Every Ilokano word has a stressed syllable, and getting it right changes the meaning — not just the accent. In two-syllable words, either the first or the last syllable is stressed. Stressed vowels are also held longer, which the grammar book marks with an acute accent (´).

• nabásak

  I was able to read (it)

  stress on -bá-

• nabasák

  I was able to wet (it)

  same spelling, stress moved to -sák — different word

Why the dictionary looks different from this lesson

You'll notice words in this app's Dictionary and games (siak, pintas, dakkel) don't carry accent marks, while the example sentences in these lessons (siák, píntas) do. Both are the same words — the accents are simply how the 1971 reference grammar marks stress for learners; the dictionary itself normalizes spelling without them, same as most everyday Ilokano writing today.