Spelling of X, H, Z, S, Sh, Ch

Z is a voiced consonant, and s is its unvoiced pair. At the beginning of a word and between vowels z is heard clearly: zamin (earth), quzi (lamb). But when z comes before an unvoiced consonant or at the end of a word, it often sounds like s: qizcha (little girl) — «qischa», yuzta (a hundred) — «yusta», muz (ice) — «mus». Even so, z is written in these words, because the stem does not change: qiz, yuz, muz. S is a very frequent sound and can stand at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of a word: sabzi (carrot), asosiy (main), kitobsiz (without a book).