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How to type Estonian letters (õ ä ö ü) on an English keyboard
Type õ, ä, ö and ü, and š and ž, on a US keyboard on Mac, Windows and Linux, with the downside of each way and one that needs no extra keys.
Estonian needs four letters that a US keyboard does not have: õ, ä, ö and ü. Estonians call them täpitähed, "dotted letters", even though õ has a tilde and not dots. Two more, š and ž, appear in loanwords and names such as šokolaad and žürii.
These are not decoration. They are separate vowels, and they change words: tore means "nice", töö means "work", sõna means "word". Without them, Homme jouan toole hiljem is hard to read even for an Estonian. Here are the ways to type them.
On a Mac
Press and hold. Hold o, and macOS shows its accented forms, õ and ö among them, with a number under each. Hold a for ä and u for ü. Simple, and slow when every second word needs it.
Option shortcuts. On the standard ABC (US) layout, Option + U and then a vowel types ä, ö, ü, and Option + N and then o types õ. With Shift on the vowel you get the capitals. This is the fastest built-in way on a Mac that keeps your layout, once your fingers learn it.
The Estonian layout. Open System Settings → Keyboard → Text Input → Edit, press +, and add Estonian. Switch between it and your US layout with Control + Space or the globe key if it is set to change input sources. The four letters take the keys where US has brackets, semicolon and apostrophe, so those symbols move.
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 Estonian keyboard. The Microsoft layout chart shows its keys. Open Settings → Time & language → Language & region, add Estonian or only its keyboard, and switch with Windows + Space. It has one key for each letter: ü and õ where US has [ and ], ö and ä where US has ; and '. The letters are easy. The punctuation is not: quotes, the slash and the brackets all move, and you will look for them every time you switch.
US-International. Add United States-International in the same place. Then " and a vowel types ä, ö, ü, and ~ and then o types õ. The catch: the quote and tilde keys now wait for the next key, so to type a plain quote you press space after it. In code and in chat, that adds up.
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: 0245 õ, 0228 ä, 0246 ö, 0252 ü, and for capitals 0213 Õ, 0196 Ä, 0214 Ö, 0220 Ü. 0154 is š and 0158 is ž. You need a number pad, which most laptops do not have.
On Linux
GNOME and KDE offer Estonian and Estonian (US). The US variant keeps every US key and adds the letters on AltGr: AltGr + [ ü, AltGr + ] õ, AltGr + ; ö, AltGr + ' ä. AltGr + S and AltGr + Z give š and ž.
With a Compose key, Compose, ~, o types õ, and Compose, ", a types ä.
Why people still leave them out
Four letters do not sound like much, but they appear in the most common words: ära, hästi, tööle, õhtul, käes. Every method above interrupts the word. The Estonian layout moves your punctuation, US-International changes how your quote key works, and the shortcuts take two keys each. Many Estonians who work in English just write toole and ohtul and move on.
Type without täpitähed, get Estonian
Typeet lets you keep writing that way and still send correct Estonian. You keep the US layout and type without the four letters. When you finish a word with a space or punctuation, Typeet writes the correct spelling:
- Homme hommikul lahen arsti juurde, nii et jouan toole hiljem. becomes Homme hommikul lähen arsti juurde, nii et jõuan tööle hiljem.
- Laupaeval soidame vanaema juurde, kas tuled kaasa? becomes Laupäeval sõidame vanaema juurde, kas tuled kaasa?
- Ohtusook on valmis, tule enne, kui see jahtub. becomes Õhtusöök on valmis, tule enne, kui see jahtub.
- Koik on hasti, ara muretse. becomes Kõik on hästi, ära muretse.
Typeet looks up each word in frequency lists for Estonian and for English and picks the most likely spelling. When a word without its letters could be two real words, the words around it decide. English words, iPhone, my_var and words with digits stay as they are.
On Estonian test sentences it had not seen before, from the Tatoeba collection, Typeet adds 98.5% of the missing letters, 99.5% of all words come out right, and it leaves 100% of English words alone. It knows 135,156 Estonian words. We also typed Oskar Luts's Kevade without its täpitähed, 66,603 words, and 97.9% came back right.
When it gets a word wrong, press Backspace right after the fix to undo it. If you undo the same word ten times, Typeet stops changing it. Option + Backspace on a Mac, or Ctrl + Backspace on Windows and Linux, switches a word to its other spelling.
Typeet works in every app on macOS 13 or later, Windows 10 or later, and Linux. It runs on your computer, and nothing you type is stored or sent. It is free for 14 days, then a one-time purchase of $19.
Questions
How do I type õ on a Mac?
Press Option + N, let go, and type o. Or hold o and pick õ from the list.
What is the Alt code for õ?
Hold Alt and type 0245 on the number pad. The capital Õ is 0213.
What are täpitähed?
Täpitähed is the Estonian name for õ, ä, ö and ü. They are separate letters of the alphabet, not accented versions of o, a and u.
Can I use the Finnish or Swedish keyboard for Estonian?
They have ä and ö, but no õ or ü on their own keys. The Estonian layout, or US-International, is the better choice.