Don’t know how to type on a Czech keyboard? Do you ignore Czech diacritics when typing (so instead of “Dům v Říčanech se mi líbí.” you write “Dum v Ricanech se mi libi.”) and want to stop doing that? Do you copy Czech letters with ˇ or ´ from other texts? Let’s learn how to type on a Czech keyboard today. I’ll help you — that’s what Czech Buddy is here for: a teacher who takes care of people learning Czech. (At the end of this article, you’ll find a practical PDF guide you can download!)
In this article, I’ll show you how to type Czech letters on a keyboard easily and without unnecessary stress. Typing on a Czech keyboard is not difficult — you can type all the letters using a few special keys: the Shift key and the key next to Backspace (used together with the rest of the keyboard). You’ll find both written and visual instructions on how to type all special letters in this article.
What special letters do we use in Czech?
To write in Czech, we need letters with diacritics that you won’t find in English. As you probably already know, there are quite a lot of them, and they are very common.
We need to type:
- letters with a háček (lowercase and uppercase): ě, š, č, ř, ž, ď, ť, ň,
- letters with a čárka (lowercase and uppercase): á, é, í, ý, ó, ú,
- and ů, the letter u with a ring.
Sooner or later, you’ll definitely want to learn how to write these letters — both by hand and on a computer. And that’s exactly what we’re here for today.
Do I need to buy a Czech keyboard?
No, you do not need to buy a Czech keyboard if you want to type in Czech and write Czech letters like ř or á.
People often confuse these two things:
- the physical keyboard, where certain letters are printed on the keys,
- and the software keyboard setting on your device.
Having a physical Czech keyboard is convenient, but it is not necessary. If you have one (for example, if you live in the Czech Republic and bought your computer in a Czech shop), typing will be easier because you can immediately see where the Czech letters are.
If you have a different keyboard, that’s absolutely fine:
- To get started, you can open a keyboard cheat sheet on your screen or print one out and keep it next to your computer (you can use my cheat sheet below). This will help you quickly find Czech letters and special characters even if you don’t see them printed on your keyboard.
- Another option is to put your own temporary labels on the keys, perhaps only on the letters you use most often.
- If you want a more practical and nicer-looking solution, you can buy Czech keyboard stickers. I used to have them myself, and I have to say they were comfortable to use and lasted a long time — I didn’t have to replace them often.
- And if you type in Czech often and want the most comfortable option, you can also get an external Czech keyboard.
How to set up a Czech keyboard & what to do if you don’t want to / can’t install one
If you want to set up a Czech keyboard on your computer, search on Google or in an AI tool for instructions on how to install it for your operating system (Windows, Mac, etc. — the process differs depending on the system).
If you do not want to install a Czech keyboard, you have these options (they are mainly useful as temporary solutions):
- copy Czech characters from other texts, the internet, Google, and so on,
- write the text without diacritics and then use software to add them afterwards, for example this tool on the Nechybujte website.
For most people, however, the best solution is to add the Czech keyboard layout to their device. Then the physical keys stay the same, but your system will type Czech characters.
Czech keyboard: What layouts are there?
If you install a Czech keyboard, you will usually have two main variants. They are called QWERTZ (z is in the top row, y is in the lower letter row) and QWERTY (where the z and y keys are swapped). These two variants differ only in the position of Y and Z. Otherwise, they are the same.
Below, you can see where the letters typical for Czech are located on the keyboard (highlighted in purple) and where the important key for typing the háček/wedge/caron and the háček / acute accent is located (highlighted in yellow).
If you want to learn more about Czech keyboard layouts, click here (the page is in Czech, I am sorry!). And now let’s move on to the individual letters.
How to type on a Czech keyboard & how to type Czech letters
How to type Ď, Ť, Ň on a Czech keyboard
The letters ď, ť, ň do not have their own separate keys, because they are not used very often. In speech, we often pronounce sounds like ď, ť, ň (for example in words like [jdi], [ti], [nic]), but in writing they appear only rarely, for example in words such as ďábel, ňadra, ťukat, and so on.
To type lowercase ď, ť, and ň, hold down the Shift key, and while still holding it, press the key for the háček/wedge/caron. Then release the keys (yes, you still won’t see anything appear on the screen yet — that is completely fine!). Now press n, d, or t, and the letter with a háček/wedge/caron will appear: ď, ť, or ň.
To type uppercase Ď, Ť, and Ň, hold down Shift, and while still holding it, press the háček/wedge/caron key first and then the letter D, T, or N. Only then do you release Shift.
You should now see Ď, Ť, or Ň on the screen.
How to type letters with a háček/wedge/caron: ě, š, č, ř, ž
On a Czech keyboard, the letters ě, š, č, ř, ž are directly in the top row. At first, this may feel a bit chaotic, but once you get used to it, it will start to make sense — after all, you need these letters in almost every sentence, so they need to be easy to reach.
Lowercase letters with a háček/wedge/caron (that is, ě, š, č, ř, ž) appear simply by pressing the corresponding key. Yes, it really is that simple.
To type an uppercase letter with a háček/wedge/caron (Š, Č, Ř, Ž, Ď, Ť, Ň), hold down Shift, and while still holding it, press the háček/wedge/caron key first and then the letter you want. Only then release Shift. You should now see the uppercase letter with a háček/wedge/caron on the screen.
The letter appears when you press the corresponding key.
Another option is to switch the entire keyboard to capital letters using Caps Lock just to type one uppercase letter. Then you simply press the lowercase key and the uppercase letter appears. After that, you can press Caps Lock again to switch back to lowercase and continue typing. Of course, this is rather slow, so I would not recommend relying on this method out of laziness.
How to type letters with a čárka/ acute accent: Á, É, Í, Ý, Ú + Ů
Lowercase letters with the čárka/ acute accent — á, é, í, ý, ú, ů — can be found directly on the keyboard. Convenient, right? Just press the corresponding key and the letter will appear in your editor.
To type uppercase letters with a čárka / acute accent — Á, É, Í, Ý, and Ú — first press the accent key and release it.
Then hold Shift and press the corresponding letter: a, e, i, y, or u.
This will create the uppercase accented letter.
If you want to type uppercase Ů, see here. If you want to type ó/Ó, whether lowercase or uppercase, click here.
Letters Ú and Ů
The letter ú and the letter ů have their own keys on the Czech keyboard. That is great news, because you do not have to create them using complicated combinations. You only need to know where to find them, and then you can type them normally in words like úkol, účet, úřad, or únor (ú appears at the beginning of words, and sometimes elsewhere), and domů, sůl, sousedů (ů never appears at the beginning of a word).
If you type in Czech regularly, you will remember the position of these letters quite quickly, and typing them will soon become part of your muscle memory.
To type lowercase ú and ů, simply press their dedicated keys on the Czech keyboard.
For ů, press the key to the right of L.
For ú, press the key to the right of P.
To type uppercase Ú, first press the accent key and release it. Then hold Shift and press the letter u. This creates the letter Ú.
To type uppercase Ů, you can turn on Caps Lock and then press the ů key.
If you want to continue typing in lowercase afterwards, turn Caps Lock off again.
The letter Ů is used rather rarely in everyday writing.
How to type ó and Ó
To type lowercase ó, first press the accent key and release it.
Then press the letter o.
This creates ó.
To type uppercase Ó, first press the accent key and release it.
Then hold Shift and press the letter o.
This creates Ó.
How to type numbers on a Czech keyboard
Because the top row of keys is used for letters, numbers are not immediately accessible. To type numbers, you press Shift and, while holding it, press the number key. This is of course a bit slow, which is why people who type numbers often usually prefer a keyboard with a numeric keypad — it makes typing numbers much more comfortable.
How to type the háček/wedge/caron and the čárka / acute accent themselves
If you want the háček/wedge/caron or the čárka / acute accent to appear on their own, that is also possible:
- the háček/wedge/caron looks like this: ˇ,
- the čárka / acute accent looks like this: ´.
To type the čárka / acute accent by itself, press the special key (next to Backspace) and then tap the space bar. This will make both the accent and a space appear (you can delete the extra space afterwards).
To type the háček/wedge/caron by itself, hold Shift and at the same time press that same special key (next to Backspace). Then release the keys and press the space bar. You will then see the háček/wedge/caron and a space (again, you can delete the extra space).
Guide & cheat sheet to download
I created a one-page A4 summary guide with all these instructions. If you’d like to get it, enter your email here and the guide will arrive in your inbox right away.
Did you manage to type Czech characters on your keyboard?
How did it go? Did you try typing all the letters? I hope you were successful and learned something new — and most importantly, what you actually needed. If you are still struggling with it, feel free to send me a message. I’ll try to help.
P.S. If you’d like to improve your Czech even more, I’m here for you! 🙂 Check out my individual lesson offer.
