# How to type Slovenian letters (č š ž) on an English keyboard
Type the Slovenian šumniki č, 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.
Slovenian needs only three letters that a US keyboard does not have: **č, š** and **ž**, and the capitals **Č, Š, Ž**. Slovenians call them *šumniki*. You will also see **ć** and **đ** in names from the rest of the former Yugoslavia, such as *Đurić*, but they are not part of the Slovenian alphabet.
Three letters sound like a small problem. They are not, because they are in the most common words: *že*, *še*, *če*, *več*, *čez*, and the verb endings in *-š*. Writing *cez vikend* for *čez vikend* is readable, but it looks careless in an email to a client or a teacher. Here are the ways to type the real letters.
## 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.** The standard ABC layout does not cover this full set of letters. 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 Slovenian layout.** Open System Settings → Keyboard → Text Input → Edit, press +, and add Slovenian. Switch between it and your US layout with Control + Space or the globe key if it is set to change input sources. It is QWERTZ, so Y and Z swap, and the šumniki take keys where US has punctuation.
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 Slovenian keyboard.** The [Microsoft layout chart](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/globalization/keyboards/kbdcr_1) shows its keys. Open Settings → Time & language → Language & region, add Slovenian or only its keyboard, and switch with Windows + Space. The layout is the same as the Croatian one: **š** on the [ key, **č** on ;, **ž** on \. It is QWERTZ, and brackets, quotes and many symbols move. If you write code or switch to English often, you will type a **č** where you wanted a semicolon more than once.
**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: 0154 for **š**, 0158 for **ž**, 0138 for **Š**, 0142 for **Ž**. Windows-1252 has no code of this kind for **č**, the most common of the three. In Microsoft Word you can type `010D` and press Alt + X to get it.
**US-International** does not help here. It adds acute accents and umlauts, but no háček.
## On Linux
GNOME and KDE offer *Slovenian* and *Slovenian (US)*. Add one in your keyboard settings. A Compose key is the other way: Compose, c, c types **č**, Compose, c, s types **š**, and Compose, c, z types **ž**. The c in the middle stands for caron, the English name of the háček.
## What each way costs you
Press and hold and the Compose key keep your US layout, but cost two or three keys per letter. The Slovenian layout costs nothing for the šumniki and a lot for everything else: the symbols you use in English, in spreadsheets and in code are in new places. Many Slovenians who work in English simply leave the šumniki out.
## Type without šumniki, get Slovenian
[Typeet](/) gives you a fourth option. You keep the US layout and type Slovenian without the marks. When you finish a word with a space or punctuation, Typeet writes the correct spelling:
- *Cez vikend greva na morje, ze komaj cakam.* becomes **Čez vikend greva na morje, že komaj čakam.**
- *Vecerja je ze na mizi, pridi, dokler je topla.* becomes **Večerja je že na mizi, pridi, dokler je topla.**
- *Kupis kruh in mleko, ko gres domov?* becomes **Kupiš kruh in mleko, ko greš domov?**
- *Ali me lahko poklices zvecer?* becomes **Ali me lahko pokličeš zvečer?**
It looks up each word in frequency lists for Slovenian and for English and picks the most likely spelling. Where a word without its marks could be two different words, the words around it decide. English words, `iPhone`, `camelCase` and `my_var` stay as they are, so you can mix Slovenian, English and code in one message.
On Slovenian test sentences it had not seen before, from the Tatoeba collection, Typeet adds 98.4% of the missing letters, 99.7% of all words come out right, and it leaves 99.99% of English words alone. It knows 153,985 Slovenian words. We also typed Ivan Cankar's *Na klancu* without its šumniki, 59,653 words, and 98.8% came back right.
If it changes a word you wanted to keep, press Backspace right after the fix. Undo the same word ten times and Typeet leaves it alone. Option + Backspace on a Mac, or Ctrl + Backspace on Windows and Linux, switches a word to its other spelling.
Typeet runs in every app on macOS 13 or later, Windows 10 or later, and Linux. It works on your computer only, and nothing you type is stored or sent. It is free for 14 days and then costs $19 once.
## Questions
### What are šumniki?
*Šumniki* is the Slovenian name for the letters **č, š** and **ž**. They are the only letters in the Slovenian alphabet that English does not have.
### How do I type č on a US keyboard?
On a Mac, hold c and pick **č**. On Windows, add the Slovenian keyboard; there is no standard Windows-1252 Alt + number pad code for č. On Linux, press Compose, c, c.
### Are the Slovenian and Croatian keyboards the same?
On Windows they have the same keys, including ć and đ. So either one types Slovenian.
### Can I write Slovenian without šumniki?
People do in quick chats, and readers understand it. In anything formal it looks wrong, and some words become different words.