Sound of the letters in english

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With this alphabet chart, understand how to say the names of the letters and read about all the sounds of each letter from the alphabet. These are the basic phonetic sounds for American English. To learn important sounds using free videos online, go to Pronunciation in English: 500 Words.

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Learning the building blocks of words - sounds, their spellings, and word parts

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If you want to store a large, complex system such as the English spelling system in a finite human brain, you have to organise it well.

To organise something, you first need an organising principle or principles.

If you want to use the relationship between letters and sounds as your organising principle for spelling (and most sensible people do), you can start from the letters and work to the sounds, or start from the sounds and work to the letters.

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet, but English also has a whole stack of letter combinations that can represent individual sounds:

• Two letter combinations, like “oo” as in “book”, “er” as in “her”, “ph” as in “phone” and “ey” as in “key”
• Three letter combinations, like “igh” as in “high”, “dge” as in “bridge”, “tch” as in “catch” and “ere” as in “here”.
• Four letter combinations, like “eigh” as in “eight”, “aigh” as in “straight”, “augh” as in “caught”, and “ough” as in “bought”, “drought”, “dough”, “through”, “thorough” (but not “cough” or “tough”, where the “ou” and the “gh” represent different sounds, and just happen to be next to each other).

To add to the complexity, many letters and letter combinations can represent more than one sound, for example, the letter “y” represents four different sounds in the words “yes”, “by”, “baby” and “gym”. The spelling “ea” represents three different sounds in the words “beach”, “dead” and “break”.

As well as more common letter-sound patterns, there are letter-sound patterns that only occur in one or two words, like the “sth” in “asthma” and “isthmus”, and the “xe” in “axe”, “deluxe” and “annexe”.

It's an almost impossible task to use letters and letter patterns to organise your thinking about spelling, as there are simply so many of them and their relationships with sounds are so complex.

After a while it starts to seem that there must be thousands of sounds in English, whereas there are only 44[1] . So let's try using sounds as our organising principle.

The sounds of English are:

Three pairs of consonants made by stopping airflow in the mouth then letting it go:

• “p” as in pop, puppy and cantaloupe (voiceless lip sound).
• “b” as in bob, rubber, build and cupboard (voiced lip sound).
• “t” as in tot, butter, backed, joked, laundrette, torte, Thomas, receipt, debt, yacht, indict and pizza (voiceless tongue tip sound).
• “d” as in did, muddy, wagged, aide and jodhpurs (voiced tongue tip sound).
• “k” as in cot, king, luck, quit, chrome, mosque, khaki, liquor, accord, excel, Bourke, trekking, acquaint, racquet and zucchini (voiceless back of the tongue sound).
• “g” as in go, biggest, guide, ghoul and morgue (voiced back of the tongue sound).

Three pairs of consonants made through your nose using your voice:

• “m” as in mum, hammer, limb, autumn, programme and paradigm (lip sound).
• “n” as in non, runner, know, reign, cayenne, pneumonia and mnemonic (tongue tip sound).
• “ng” as in wing, think and tongue (back of the tongue sound).

Four pairs of friction sounds made by squeezing air through narrow spaces in the mouth:

• “th” as in thin, Matthew and phthalates (voiceless tongue-between-teeth sound).
• “th” as in this and breathe  (voiced tongue-between-teeth sound).
• “f” as in far, sniff, phone, cough, Chekhov, gaffe, carafe and often[2] (voiceless teeth on lip sound).
• “v” as in vat, love, skivvy, of, Stephen and Louvre (voiced teeth on lip sound).
• “s” as in sell, city, voice, house, scent, pass, whistle, psychologist, quartz, coalesce, mousse, sword, asthma, and waltz.
• “z” as in zip, is, pause, dazzling, bronze, xylophone, dessert, business and tsar/czar.
• “sh” as in ash, lotion, passion, pension, facial, chef, schnitzel, moustache, ocean, sugar, appreciate, initiate, conscience, tissue, cushion, crescendo and fuchsia.
• “zh” as in beige, vision, pleasure, aubergine, déjà vu, seizure, equation and casuarina.

One pair of sounds made by stopping the air and then releasing it through a narrow space in the mouth:

• “ch” (a combination of “t” and “sh”) as in chair, hutch, creature, bocconcini, cappuccino, kitsch, luncheon, question, righteous, ciao and Czech.
• “j” (a combination of “d” and “zh”) as in jar, gem, sponge, ridge, budgie, religion, adjust, suggest, educate, soldier and hajj.

Four semi-vowels:

• “w” as in we, when, quack, one, marijuana and ouija.
• “y” as in yum, onion, hallelujah, tortilla and El Niño.
• “r” as in rip, wrist, barrel, rhubarb, diarrhoea and Warwick.
• “l” as in look, doll, grille, aisle, island and kohl.

One friction sound that has no pair:

• “h”, made by squeezing air through the back of your throat, as in hat, who, jojoba and junta.

So that makes 24 consonant sounds. Then there are 20 vowels:

Six “checked” vowels that require a consonant sound after them in English (sometimes called "short" vowels):

• “a” as in at, plait, salmon, meringue and Fahrenheit.
• “e” as in wet, deaf, any, said, says, friend, haemmorhage, leopard, leisure, bury and Geoff.
• “i” as in in, myth, passage, pretty, breeches, busy, marriage, sieve, women and bream.
• “o” as in on, swan, because, entree, cough, John, lingerie and bureaucracy.
• “u” as in up, front, young, blood, does and laksa.
• “oo” as in pull, good, could, wolf, tour and Worcestershire.

Six other vowels that are sometimes called “long vowels” (they're not really long, but they can be the last sound in a word):

• “ay” as in same, sail, say, danger, weigh, vein, they, café, reggae, great, purée, fete, straight, gauge, gaol, laissez-faire and lingerie.
• “I” as in like, hi, by, pie, high, type, chai, feisty, bye, height, kayak, eye, iron, maestro and naive.
• “oh” as in rope, no, boat, goes, glow, plateau, soul, mauve, though, yolk, brooch, owe, sew and Renault.
• “ooh” as in food, June, chew, brutal, youth, clue, fruit, to, sleuth, shoe, roux, coup, pooh, through, two, manoeuvre and bouillion.
• “you” (a combination of “y” and “ooh”) as in use, few, cue, feud, tulip, beauty, pursuit, ewe and vacuum.
• “ee” as in bee, eat, field, me, these, jelly, taxi, turkey, ceiling, marine, paediatric, amoeba, quay, people, Grand Prix, fjord, ratatouille and Leigh.

Seven other vowels, some of which are called "r-controlled" vowels in some spelling books:

• “ar” as in arm, past, calf, blah, charred, are, baa, clerk, aunt, heart, bazaar and bizarre.
• “er” as in fern, curl, dirt, word, pearl, purr, err, whirred, slurred, masseur, journalist, milieu, were, colonel, myrrh, myrtle and hors d’oeuvre.
• “aw” as in saw, cord, more, court, faun, bought, wart, all, door, chalk, taught, board, dinosaur, baulk, sure, broad, awesome, you’re, corps, extraordinaire, hors d’oeuvre and assurance.
• “ou” as in out, cow, drought, kauri, Maori and miaow.
• “oy” as in boy, soil, Freud, lawyer and Despoja.
• “air” as in care, fair, pear, parent, aerial, solitaire, there, sombrero, heir, their, they’re, prayer, mayor and yeah.
• “ear” as in dear, beer, tier, ere, bacteria, souvenir, Hampshire, weird and Shakespeare.

One unstressed vowel, heard mostly in multisyllable words:

• “uh” as in fire, super, metre, buzzard, tractor, odour, jealous, nature, mynah, violent, pencil, cherub, delicate, granite, purpose, minute, restaurant, aesthetic, martyr, mischievous, borough, portrait, foreign, papier-mache, cupboard, sulphur, porpoise, circuit, tapir…

The unstressed vowel also occurs in spoken sentences in small, grammatical words like "a" and "the". Because these words occur very frequently, this can be a source of much confusion about how basic vowels are spelt.

This is still a long list, but at least it's possible to put a lid on it, by teaching the main spellings for all the sounds in one-syllable words, then the main additional spellings in longer words.

Eventually you find you've got most words covered, and there's just a list of weird ones for each sound that don't follow any major pattern, and are therefore also memorable.

Learners can make up a spelling collection with a page for each sound, and list all the spellings they know in groups. In fact there are books you can buy for this purpose such as Soundasaurus, but I generally quibble with some of the categories, and prefer to use my own Spelling Collection. Crossings-out, sticky notes and/or extra pages added in later are good evidence that learners have been actively thinking and learning about the relationship between sounds and letters.

[1] Linguists will always argue about how many sounds there are in English, because the mouth is a mushy place without clear boundaries – for example, the “l” sound at the start of “look” is phonetically different from the one at the end of “hall”, and the sound “ay” in “play” and “ie” as in “time” are technically two sounds, but slicing things that finely doesn’t really help with learning spelling. Most people say there are between 42 and 44 sounds for the purposes of teaching spelling (depending on whether you call "ear" and "air" separate spellings or not).

[2] and lieutenant if you speak British English, but actually this word comes from French and means someone standing in (in lieu) for the tenant or office-holder, so the American pronunciation (“loo-tenant”, not “leff-tenant”) is closer to the original French.

« Spelling rules

English sounds and letters

English alphabet

There are 26 letters in English. In different combinations and positions, they represent 44 sounds.
In English, 24 consonants are distinguished, and they are transmitted in writing by 20 letters: Bb; cc; Dd; ff; Gg ; hh; Jj; kk; LI; mm; Nn; pp; Qq; Rr; Ss; Tt; vv; ww; xx; Zz.
In English, 12 vowels and 8 diphthongs are distinguished, and they are transmitted in writing by 6 letters: Aa; ee; li; Oh; Uu; Yy. Russian alphabet. Use of the alphabet

Video: English lesson on the English alphabet

Transcription and stress

Phonetic transcription is an international system of signs that is needed to show exactly how words should be pronounced. Each sound is displayed with a separate icon. These icons are always written in square brackets.
In transcription, verbal stress is indicated (which syllable in the word is stressed). The stress mark [‘] is placed before the stressed syllable.

English consonants

Features of English consonants
1. English consonants, transmitted by letters b, f, g, m, s, v, z, are similar in pronunciation to the corresponding Russian consonants, but should sound more energetic and tense.
2. English consonants are not softened.
3. Voiced consonants are never stunned, neither before voiceless consonants nor at the end of a word.
4. Double consonants, that is, two identical consonants side by side, are always pronounced as one sound.
5. Some English consonants are aspirated: the tip of the tongue must be pressed firmly against the alveoli (the bumps where the teeth attach to the gum). Then the air between the tongue and teeth will pass with effort, and you will get a noise (explosion), that is, aspiration.

Rules for reading consonants in English: link 1, link 2

Table of pronunciation of English consonants
Phonetic transcription	Examples	Approximate matches in Russian
[b]	b ad, b ox	voiced sound corresponding to Russian [b] in the word b rat
[p]	o p en, p et	a dull sound corresponding to Russian [p] in the word p ero , but pronounced aspirated
[d]	d i d , d ay	voiced sound, similar to Russian [d] in the word d om , but more energetic, “sharper”; when pronouncing it, the tip of the tongue rests on the alveoli
[t]	t ea, t ake	a dull sound corresponding to the Russian [t] in the word t ermos , but pronounced with a breath, while the tip of the tongue rests on the alveoli
[v]	v oice, v isit	voiced sound corresponding to Russian [v] in the word in osk , but more energetic
[f]	f ind, f ine	a dull sound corresponding to Russian [f] in the word f inik , but more energetic
[z]	z oo, ha s	voiced sound corresponding to Russian [з] in the word з ima , but more energetic; when pronouncing, the tip of the tongue is raised to the alveoli
[s]	s un, s ee	a dull sound corresponding to Russian [s] in the word s or , but more energetic; when pronouncing, the tip of the tongue is raised to the alveoli
[g]	g ive, g o	voiced sound corresponding to Russian [g] in the word g irya , but pronounced softer
[k]	c at, c an	a dull sound corresponding to the Russian [k] in the word to mouth , but pronounced more energetically and aspirated
[ʒ]	vi si on, plea sur e	voiced sound corresponding to Russian [zh] in the word zh ara , but pronounced more tensely and softer
[ʃ]	sh e, Ru ss ia	a dull sound corresponding to the Russian [sh] in the word sh ina , but is pronounced softer, for which you need to raise the middle part of the back of the tongue to the hard palate
[j]	y ellow, y ou	sound similar to the Russian sound [th] in the word th od , but pronounced more energetically and intensely
[l]	l itt l e, l ike	sound similar to Russian [l] in the word l isa , but you need the tip of the tongue to touch the alveoli
[m]	m an, m erry	sound similar to Russian [m] in the word m ir , but more energetic; when pronouncing it, you need to close your lips more tightly
[n]	n o, n ame	sound similar to Russian [n] in the word n os , but when it is pronounced, the tip of the tongue touches the alveoli, and the soft palate is lowered, and air passes through the nose
[ŋ]	si ng , fi ng er	a sound in which the soft palate is lowered and touches the back of the back of the tongue, and air passes through the nose. To pronounce it like Russian [ng] is wrong; should be a nasal overtone
[r]	r ed, r abbit	sound, when pronouncing which the raised tip of the tongue should touch the middle part of the palate, above the alveoli; tongue does not vibrate
[h]	h elp, h ow	sound reminiscent of Russian [x] as in the word x aos , but almost silent (slightly audible exhalation), for which it is important not to press the tongue against the palate
[w]	w et, w inter	a sound similar to very quickly spoken Russian [ue] in the word Ue ls ; at the same time, the lips should be rounded and pushed forward, and then vigorously pushed apart
[dʒ]	j ust, j ump	a sound similar to [j] in a Russian loan word j insy , but more energetic and softer. Cannot be pronounced separately [d] and [ʒ]
[tʃ]	ch eck, mu ch	sound similar to Russian [h] in the word h as , but harder and more intense. Cannot be pronounced separately [t] and [ʃ]
[ð]	th is, th ey	a ringing sound, when pronouncing which the tip of the tongue must be placed between the upper and lower teeth and then quickly removed. Do not clamp the flat tongue with your teeth, but slightly push it into the gap between them. This sound (since it is voiced) is pronounced with the participation of the vocal cords. Similar to Russian [z] interdental
[θ]	th ink, seven th	A voiceless sound that is pronounced the same as [ð], but without a voice. Similar to Russian [s] interdental

English vowel sounds

The reading of each vowel depends on:
1. from other letters standing next to it, in front of it or behind it;
2. from being in a shock or unstressed position.

Features of vowels in English.
1. English vowels (unlike Russian) are divided into long and short.
   Under stress, long sounds last almost three times longer than short ones. It is necessary to observe the longitude and brevity of sounds, otherwise there will be a confusion of the meanings of words.
   In transcription, the length of a vowel sound is indicated by two vertical dots (i.e., a colon) behind the icon denoting that sound [:] .
2. There are diphthongs in English.
   Diphthongs are combinations of two vowel sounds that are pronounced together and both fit into one syllable: the organs of speech after pronouncing the first sound quickly but smoothly move into the position required for the next sound; the first sound is pronounced distinctly and for a long time, and the second sound is very short and merges with the first.

Rules for reading vowels in English: link 1, link 2, link 3, link 4

Table of pronunciation of simple English vowels
Phonetic transcription	Examples	Approximate matches in Russian
[æ]	c a t, bl a ck	short sound, intermediate between Russian sounds [a] and [e]. To get this sound, you need to pronounce Russian [a], open your mouth wide, and place your tongue low. Pronouncing just Russian [e] is wrong
[ɑ:]	ar m, f a ther	is a long sound similar to Russian [а], but it is much longer and deeper. When pronouncing it, you need to yawn, as it were, but do not open your mouth wide, while pulling your tongue back
[ʌ]	c u p, r u n	a short sound similar to Russian unstressed [a] in the word from a dy . To get this sound, you need, while pronouncing Russian [a], almost do not open your mouth, while stretching your lips a little and pushing your tongue back a little. Pronouncing just Russian [a] is wrong
[ɒ]	n o t, h o t	a short sound similar to Russian [o] in the word d o m , but when pronouncing it, you need to completely relax your lips; for Russian [o] they are slightly tense
[ɔ:]	sp o rt, f ou r	is a long sound similar to Russian [o], but it is much longer and deeper. When pronouncing it, you need to yawn, as it were, with your mouth half open, and tighten and round your lips
[ə]	a bout, a lias	sound, which is often found in Russian, is always in an unstressed position. In English, this sound is also always unstressed. It does not have a clear sound, and is spoken of as an obscure sound (it cannot be replaced by any clear sound)
[e]	m e t, b e d	short sound similar to Russian [e] under stress in words such as e ti , pl e d , etc. English consonants cannot be softened before this sound
[ɜː]	w or k, l ear n	this sound is not in Russian, and it is very difficult to pronounce. It resembles the Russian sound in the words m ё d , sv ё kla , but it needs to be pulled much longer and at the same time the lips are strongly stretched without opening the mouth (it turns out a skeptical smile)
[ɪ]	i t, p i t	is a short sound similar to the Russian vowel in the word sh and t . You have to pronounce it abruptly
[i:]	h e , s ee	a long sound similar to Russian [and] under stress, but longer, and they pronounce it as if with a smile, stretching their lips. A Russian sound close to it is in the word verse ii
[ʊ]	l oo k, p u t	a short sound that can be compared with the Russian unstressed [u], but it is pronounced energetically and with completely relaxed lips (lips cannot be pulled forward)
[u:]	bl u e, f oo d	a long sound, quite similar to the Russian percussion [y], but still not the same. To make it work, you need, while pronouncing Russian [y], do not stretch your lips into a tube, do not push them forward, but round and smile slightly. Like other long English vowels, it needs to be drawn much longer than Russian [y]

Diphthong pronunciation table
Phonetic transcription	Examples	Approximate matches in Russian
[aɪ]	f i ve, ey e	diphthong, similar to the combination of sounds in Russian words ai and h ai . Second element, sound [ɪ], very short
[ɔɪ]	n oi se, v oi ce	diphthong, similar to a combination of sounds in the Russian word somehow. Second element, sound [ɪ], very short
[eɪ]	br a ve, afr ai d	diphthong, similar to the combination of sounds in the Russian word sh eu ka . Second element, sound [ɪ], very short
[aʊ]	t ow n, n ow	diphthong, similar to the combination of sounds in the Russian word from ay to . The first element is the same as in [aɪ]; second element, sound [ʊ], very short
[əʊ]	h o me, kn ow	diphthong, similar to a combination of sounds in the Russian word kl ou n , if you do not deliberately pronounce it in syllables (while the consonance resembles eu ). Pronouncing this diphthong as a pure Russian consonance [oh] is wrong
[ɪə]	d ea r, h e re	diphthong, similar to the combination of sounds in the Russian word such; consists of short sounds [ɪ] and [ə]
[eə]	wh e re, th e re	diphthong, similar to the combination of sounds in the Russian word long neck, if you do not pronounce it in syllables. The sound resembling Russian [e] in the word e then is followed by the second element, an unclear short sound [ə]
[ʊə]	t ou r, p oo r	a diphthong in which [ʊ] is followed by a second element, an obscure short sound [ə]. When pronouncing [ʊ], the lips must not be pulled forward

Materials from the book “Rules of the English language. Primary School". Compiled by: Galina Kulinich, Vladimir Skvortsov

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Posted by 05/09/2014 05.10.2018 Author govorit po anglijskiCategories English lessons

Sounds in English: pronunciation, transcription 🗣️

In English, the number of words that are not pronounced at all as they are written is very large - this is the result of historical changes and the standardization of written English language in the 17th century. Knowing how English sounds are read, you can almost always read even the most intricate word.

The English alphabet has 26 letters, 20 vowels and 23 consonants. The more you delve into the English language, the more difficult words you will meet along the way. The science of phonetics will come in handy here, just in time. And we will share life hacks on the study of this topic.

Transcription of English sounds

In order to study all possible variations of sounds, linguists have developed an alphabet that contains special characters. Such an alphabet was called International Phonetic Alphabet (International Phonetic Alphabet).

These symbols are used in modern transcriptions of English words. Transcription, by the way, is a graphic representation of sounds. Indicate the transcription in square brackets.

Let's look at the examples below, how one letter can be read in two different ways. The difference in pronunciation can depend on the type of syllable, the position of the letter in the word, and whether the vowel is stressed.

• In the word type (print/type), the letter y is in an open syllable and therefore reads as [aɪ].
• In the word copy (copy / copy), the letter y is in an unstressed syllable at the end of the word and therefore reads like [i].

However, it is worth trying to learn the pronunciation of sounds and various combinations of sounds. There is no division into short and long consonants in Russian. In English, the incorrect pronunciation of such vowels leads to significant changes in the meaning of the word.

So, for example, confusing the short and long sound [i] (read as “and” in the Russian word “game”), you can accidentally say “I boarded a sheep” - I boarded a sheep [ʃ iː p], and not "I boarded a ship" - I boarded a ship [ʃ ɪ p].

English proficiency test

This English proficiency test was compiled by the Skysmart online school tutors. They prepared interesting and relevant tasks on modern topics to make the test both useful and interesting

General Table of Consonants and Vowels of English (IPA)

Below is a table of all known English phonemes. The vowels are in the gray area and the consonants are in the yellow area. Short and long vowels are indicated on a light gray background, and diphthongs - sounds consisting of two elements - are located on a dark gray background.

All consonants are on a yellow background and are distinguished by font color. Voiceless consonants ( voiceless/unvoiced ) are marked in gray, and voiced ones ( voiced ) - black.

How many English words do you already know?

Let's define your vocabulary - without complex questions and with the help of smart algorithms.

Classification of sounds in English

In English, sounds are divided into two groups: vowels and consonants. Let's take a look at them.

Another effective way to quickly memorize English sounds is to sign up for English lessons for children 8 years old online at Skysmart School.

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