Sounds, Tones and Special Letters
Start here
Lesson overview
How Igbo is written and pronounced: tones and special letters.
Go to lesson quiz →Exam guidance · Languages Examiner Lens
Pacing
Read the stem stem-last (question clause first), eliminate two distractors, then verify constraints.
How Languages marks this
Focus on how Languages scenarios frame constraints, qualifiers ("FIRST", "BEST", "MOST likely"), and boundary cases.
Watch out for
Technically true statements that do not solve the specific constraint in the scenario.
Lesson content
Overview
Igbo (Asụsụ Igbo) is spoken in south-eastern Nigeria. Before learning phrases, get to know how it sounds and how it is written.
How It's Written
Igbo uses dotted vowels — ị, ọ and ụ — and the letter ṅ, plus letter pairs like ch, gb, gw, kp, kw, nw and ny that count as single letters. Igbo is tonal (high and low tones), but tone marks are usually left out in everyday writing.
Examples
Look closely at the marks in these greetings — you'll learn them in the next lesson: • Ụtụtụ ọma — Good morning • Ị bọọla chi? — Good morning ("did you wake well?") • Ehihie ọma — Good afternoon • Mgbede ọma — Good evening
Learning Tip
Always learn a word together with its marks. Leaving them out can change the pronunciation — and in a tonal language, sometimes the meaning.
Practise
Say every word aloud, then take the 10-question check below (60% to pass) to unlock the next lesson. Stuck? Ask the AI tutor about this lesson. This course is in beta: it sticks to common, everyday language, but it has not yet been reviewed by native speakers, and many phrases have regional variants. If something looks wrong, please tell us.
Mastery Check · Lesson Quiz · pass 60%
Pass this quiz to lock in spaced-repetition flashcards and unlock the next lesson.
Create a free account to take quizzes, earn checkpoints and track your scores — no card needed.
Create your free account