# Type Czech letters on an English keyboard: a full guide
The ways to type háček and čárka letters and ů on a US keyboard on Mac, Windows and Linux, what each one costs you, and one that needs no extra keys.
Czech has fifteen letters that English does not. Six carry a *čárka*, the acute accent that makes a vowel long: **á, é, í, ó, ú, ý**. Eight carry a *háček*, the small v on top: **č, ď, ě, ň, ř, š, ť, ž**. And one has a *kroužek*, a small ring: **ů**. Czechs call the whole set *háčky a čárky*.
You can write Czech without them, and in a text message most people do. In a work email or a document it looks careless, and some words change: *byt* is a flat, *být* is "to be". Here are the ways to type the real letters on a US keyboard.
## On a Mac
**Press and hold.** Hold a letter key to see the accented forms available in the current app and input source. Choose a letter by clicking it or pressing its number. The menu does not appear in every app and may not contain every letter you need. For a missing letter, use a language layout or Character Viewer.
**Option shortcuts.** On the standard ABC (US) layout, Option + E and then a vowel types the čárka: **á, é, í, ó, ú**. There is no háček on this layout. The ABC - Extended input source offers more marks. Add it in Keyboard settings, then choose Show Keyboard Viewer from the Input menu. Hold Option to see its dead keys, press the key for the mark, then type the letter. Use Character Viewer if the letter is not available.
**The Czech layout.** Open System Settings → Keyboard → Text Input → Edit, press +, and add Czech. Use Keyboard Viewer to check the key positions. Switch with Control + Space or the globe key if it is set to change input sources.
For an occasional letter, open Character Viewer with Control + Command + Space. Expand the viewer if needed, search for the letter, and double-click it to insert it.
## On Windows
**The Czech keyboards.** Open Settings → Time & language → Language & region, add Czech or only its keyboard, and pick one of three:
- **Czech** puts **ě, š, č, ř, ž, ý, á, í, é** on the number row, so the digits need Shift. It is QWERTZ: Y and Z change places. Most punctuation moves too.
- **Czech (QWERTY)** is the same, with Y and Z in the US places.
- [Czech Programmers](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/globalization/keyboards/kbdcz2) keeps the US layout and puts the Czech letters on AltGr, the right Alt key. For example, AltGr + 2 types **ě**. It is the easiest to live with if you also write English or code.
Switch layouts with Windows + Space.
**US-International.** This layout adds dead keys: ' and then a vowel types **á, é, í, ó, ú**. It has no háček, and the ' key now waits for the next key, which gets in the way when you type quotes.
**Alt codes.** The leading-zero codes below use Windows-1252, the Western European code page. Results can differ with the system code page. Hold Alt and type a number on the number pad with Num Lock on: 0225 **á**, 0233 **é**, 0237 **í**, 0243 **ó**, 0250 **ú**, 0253 **ý**, 0154 **š**, 0158 **ž**. Windows-1252 has no codes of this kind for č, ď, ě, ň, ř, ť and ů. In Microsoft Word you can type the Unicode number and press Alt + X, for example `0159` for **ř**. Nobody wants to do that more than once a day.
## On Linux
GNOME and KDE offer *Czech*, *Czech (QWERTY)* and *Czech (programming)*. Check the preview for the programming variant before using it; its key positions differ from the standard Czech layout.
A Compose key also works, once you set one in your keyboard settings: Compose, c, r types **ř** (c for caron, the English name of the háček), Compose, ', a types **á**, and Compose, o, u types **ů**.
## What each way costs you
The Czech layout is fast once your hands know it, but it moves the digits and half the punctuation. If you switch between Czech and English many times a day, or you write code, every switch is a chance to type **ě** where you wanted a 2. The shortcuts keep your layout, but each háček is two or three keys. That is why so many Czechs abroad write *bez diakritiky* and accept it.
## Type without háčky, get Czech
[Typeet](/) does not add keys. You keep the US layout and type Czech without the marks. When you finish a word with a space or punctuation, Typeet writes the correct spelling:
- *Zitra rano jdu k lekari, takze prijdu pozdeji.* becomes **Zítra ráno jdu k lékaři, takže přijdu později.**
- *Koupis cestou domu chleba a mleko?* becomes **Koupíš cestou domů chleba a mléko?**
- *Vecere je hotova, prijd, nez to vystydne.* becomes **Večeře je hotová, přijď, než to vystydne.**
- *Dekuji, uvidime se zitra v kancelari.* becomes **Děkuji, uvidíme se zítra v kanceláři.**
It looks up each word in frequency lists for Czech and for English and picks the most likely spelling. When a word is common in both forms, the words next to it decide. English words, `iPhone`, `camelCase` and file names like `obj.dir` stay as they are, so it is safe in a code review or a chat with English-speaking colleagues.
On Czech test sentences it had not seen before, from the Tatoeba collection, Typeet adds 97.8% of the missing letters, 98.6% of all words come out right, and it leaves 99.99% of English words alone. It knows 307,387 Czech words. We also typed Božena Němcová's *Babička* without its háčky and čárky, 73,924 words, and 93.6% came back right.
When it gets a word wrong, press Backspace right after the fix to undo it. After ten undos of the same word, Typeet leaves that word alone. Option + Backspace on a Mac, or Ctrl + Backspace on Windows and Linux, switches a word to its other spelling.
Typeet works system-wide on macOS 13 or later, Windows 10 or later, and Linux. Everything runs on your computer and nothing you type is stored or sent. After a 14-day free trial it is a one-time purchase of $19.
## Questions
### What are háček and čárka?
The čárka is the acute accent that marks a long vowel: **á, é, í, ó, ú, ý**. The háček is the small v on **č, ď, ě, ň, ř, š, ť, ž**. The ring on **ů** is called a kroužek.
### Can I type Czech letters without a Czech keyboard?
Yes. On a Mac, check the press-and-hold menu or add Czech in Keyboard settings. On Windows, add Czech Programmers, which keeps the US keys. Or type without the marks and let Typeet add them.
### Is there an Alt code for ř?
Not with the standard Windows-1252 codes. On that code page, of the letters listed in this post, the Alt + number pad codes cover only á, é, í, ó, ú, ý, š and ž. In Word, type `0159` and press Alt + X.
### Why do Y and Z swap on the Czech keyboard?
The standard Czech layout is QWERTZ, like the German one. Windows and Linux also offer a QWERTY version that keeps Y and Z in the US places.