Pronunciation exercises: s vs z

S is /s/ and Z is /z/. It may be confusing because normally an English cognate with a /z/ sound has Z in Esperanto but sometimes it may have S.

S in English as /z/ and Z in Esperanto

 * dezerto (desert); dizerti (to desert); kaŭzo (cause); dezajno (design); rezulto (result); surprizo (surprise); viziti (visit);

S in English as /s/ and S in Esperanto

 * ĉesi (stop, cf. cease); gaso (gas); graso (fat, cf. grease); promeso (promise);

SS in English as /s/ and S in Esperanto

 * address (adreso); klaso (class); kongreso (congress); mesaĝo (message); necesa (necessary); progreso (progress); sukceso (success)

S in English as /s/ and Z in Esperanto

 * baza (basic); konciza (concise); paradizo (paradise); preciza (precise)

SS in English as /s/ and Z in Esperanto

 * procezo (process)

SS in English as /z/ and S in Esperanto

 * deserto (dessert)

Z in Esperanto

 * ekskuzo (excuse /ɪkˈskjuːs/), ekzkuzi (excuse /ɪkˈskjuːz/); misuzo (abuse /əˈbjuːs/, misuzi (abuse /əˈbjuːz/); uzo (use /juːs/), uzi (use /juːz/);

Minimal pairs

 * baso (bass voice) - bazo (basis, base); deserto (dessert) - dezerto (desert /ˈdɛzərt/); diserti (dissert) - dizerti (desert /dɪˈzɜːrt/); gaso (gas) - gazo (gauze); roso (dew) - rozo (rose);