Vowels Consonants

English: American Pronunciation

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 IPA
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International Phonetic Alphabet
Consonan
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IPA Short Single Vowels

/ɪ/   – fit /fiːt/, pick /piːk/, difficult /ˈdɪ.fɪ.kəlt/
/e/  – pet /pet/, sent /sent/, attention /əˈten.ʃən/
/æ/ – pat /pæt/, flat /flæt/, family /ˈfæ.mə.li/
/ʌ/   – cut /kʌt/  jump /dʒʌmp/, cover /ˈkʌ.vər/
/ʊ/   – put /pʊt/, book /bʊk/, cushion /ˈkʊ.ʃən/
/ɒ/   – pot /pɒt/, dog /dɒg/, hospital /ˈhɒs.pɪ.təl/
/ə/   – about /əˈbaʊt/, system /ˈsɪs.təm/,
complete /kəmˈpliːt/. 

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 IPA
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International Phonetic Alphabet
Consonan
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IPA Long Single Vowels

/i:/     week /wi:k/, feet /fi:t/, media /ˈmiː.di.jə/
/u:/   boot /bu:t/, group /gru:p/,  beautiful /ˈbjuː.tɪ.fəl/

IPA Diphthong (double) Vowels

/eɪ/   -  place /pleɪs/, late /leɪt/,
dangerous /ˈdeɪn.dʒə.rəs/
/oʊ/  - home /hoʊm/, phone /foʊn/, global /ˈɡloʊ.bəl/
/aʊ/  -  mouse /maʊs/, brown /braʊn/,
accountant /əˈkaʊn.t̬ ənt/
/ɔɪ/ -   boy /bɔɪ/, toy /tɔɪ/, enjoyable /ɪnˈdʒɔɪ.jə.bəl/
/aɪ/  -  find /faɪnd/, bite /baɪt/, tiger  /ˈtaɪ.ɡə/

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 IPA
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International Phonetic Alphabet
Consonan
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IPA R- Controlled Vowels

/ɑ:/    hard /ha:/, park /pa:k/, article /ɑː.tɪ.kəl/
/ɔ:/    fork /fɔ:k/, walk /wɔ:k/, August /ɔːˈɡʌst/
/ɜ:/   heard /hɜ:d/, word /wɜ:d/,
surface /ˈsɜː.fɪs/
/ʊə/ -  tour /tʊə/, pure/pʊə/, mature /məˈtʃʊə/
/ɪə/   - clear /klɪə/, fear /fɪə/,  career /kəˈrɪə/
/eə/ -  care /keə/, wear /weə/,
declare /dɪˈkleə/

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 IPA
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International Phonetic Alphabet
Consonan
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IPA – Consonant Sounds – Unvoiced

/p/ - pit, pale, poke, top, hip, cap
/t/ - two, tall, tea, hot, bat, put
/k/ - keep, cat, character, sock, bloc, cheek
/f/ - fast, fat, philosophy, off, stuff, cough
/θ/ - thing, think, thin, three, something
/s/ - sit, soap, same, boss, kiss, house
/ʃ/ - shy, shot, chef, posh, bush
/h/ - high, how, hot, somehow, ahead, adhere
/ʧ/ - chat, China, choose, rich, catch, much

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International Phonetic Alphabet
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IPA – Consonant Sounds –Voiced

/b/ - buy, bet, big, hub, knob, superb
/d/ - do, deal, dust, odd, prod, cod
/g/ - go, get, grass, big, dog, fig
/v/ - van, very, vile, stove, leave, save
/ð/ - that, though, there, father, breathe, bathe
/z/ - zoo, xenon, zoom, is, has, booze
/ʒ/ - genre, version, measure, garage, equation,
/ʤ/ - jet, joke, giant, purge, huge, banjo

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 IPA
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International Phonetic Alphabet
Consonan
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IPA – Consonant Sounds –Voiced

/m/ - man, my, more, some, doom, seem
/n/ - no, new, nose, ban, soon, keen
/ŋ/ - thing, long, sang, singer, longing, bringing
/l/ - low, let, like, owl, cool, well
/ɹ/ - red, rich, rake, boar, care, tour
/w/ - we, wow, wax, dwell, swine, twain
/j/ - you, yet, yawn, pure, cure, few

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 Vowels
Consonants

/e /

/e/
pronunciation

Open your mouth a little

more for /e/
/e/ is a short, relaxed
sound.

Examples /e/
pen, bell, checks, rest, spell

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 Vowels
Consonants

/eɪ/

/eɪ / pronunciation
Close your mouth a little
for /eɪ/
/eɪ/ is a long sound.
Spread your lips and
move your tongue up
a little as you say it.

Examples /e/ × /eɪ/

pen × pain, wet × wait, test × taste, pepper × paper, shed ×
shad
e

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 Vowels
Consonants

/
æ/

/æ/ pronunciation

Open your mouth a little

more for /æ/ than for
/e/.

Examples /e/ × /æ/

X (letter) × axe, pen × pan, men × man, left × laughed, said ×
sad

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 Vowels
Consonants

/∧/

/∧/ pronunciation

Close your mouth a little

for /∧/.
Your tongue should rest
in the middle of your
mouth.
/ ∧ / is a short,
relaxed sound.

Examples /æ/ × /∧/

cap × cup, bag × bug, cat × cut, rag × rug, angle × uncle

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 Vowels
Consonants

/ə/

/ə/ pronunciation

Practice the sound

/∧/. Make it very short
for
/ə/.
The sound of /ə/ is
always short and weak.

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Examples /ə/
The sound /ə/ is used in many unstressed syllables and words.
The examples below show when to use the sound /ə/. Stressed
syllables are in bold.
chickən, təmatoes, lettəce, ə bənanə, ə womən

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 Vowels
Consonants

/ə/

/ə/ is the most common vowel sound in English.

It is used in many unstressed syllables in words.
It is also used in the weak pronunciation of many short
structure words, such as a, an, of and and. These words
almost always have a weak pronunciation with the sound /ə/.

can and can’t

Can is usually unstressed and has a weak pronunciation when
another word follows it in a sentence. The vowel sound is
reduced to /ə/.
Can has a strong pronunciation when it is at the end of a
sentence. It has the clear vowel sound /æ/.
Can’t always has a strong pronunciation. It has the clear vowel
sound /ə/.

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 Vowels
Consonants

/
ər/

/ər/ pronunciation

Practice the short sound /ə/.

Curl the tip of your tongue
up and back to say /ər/.
The sound /ər/ is
pronounced as one short
sound.

Note
The sound /ər/ will be further explained after the sound /r/.

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 Vowels
Consonants

/ɑ/
/ɑ/pronunciation

Practice the sound /æ/.

Open your mouth wide for
the sound /ɑː/.
Your tongue should rest in
the bottom of your
mouth.

Examples /æ/ × /ɑ/

hat × hot, cat × cot, cap × cop, sack × sock, ran × Ron

Examples /∧/ × /ɑ/

hut × hot, cut × cot, cup × cop, suck × sock
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 Vowels
Consonants

/
b/

/b/ pronunciation
Close your lips tight.
Push air forward in
your mouth.
Open your lips
quickly. Use your
voice to say
/b/.

Examples /b/
buy, bear, bill, cab, robe

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 Vowels
Consonants

/
t/

/t/ pronunciation
Put your tongue just
behind your top teeth,
but do not touch
them.
Push air forward in
your mouth.
Then quickly move
your tongue away.
Do not use your voice.

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 Vowels
Consonants

/
d/

/d/ pronunciation

Practice the sound /t/.

Use your voice to say
/d/.

Examples /t/ × /d/

time × dime, tore × door, try × dry, write × ride, cart × card

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 Vowels
Consonants

/ʃ /

/ ʃ / pronunciation

Put the tip of your

tongue up and back
little to make /ʃ/.
Push your lips
forward a little into a
circle.

Examples / ʃ /
shoe, sheets, shell, shine, leash

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 Vowels
Consonants

/tʃ/

/tʃ/ pronunciation
To say /tʃ/, begin to make
/t/. Then move your
tongue back and away from
the roof of your mouth as
you say
/ʃ/.
Do not use your voice.

Examples /ʃ/ × /tʃ/

shop × chop, sheep × cheap, ships × chips, cash × catch, wash ×
watch

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 Vowels
Consonants

/
dʒ/

/dʒ/
pronunciation

Practice the sound /tʃ/.

Use your voice to say
/dʒ/.

Examples /tʃ/ × /dʒ/

cheap × jeep, choke × joke, cheers × jeers, H × age, batch ×
badge

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 Vowels
Consonants

/
f/
/f/ pronunciation
Touch your top teeth
with your bottom
lip.
Blow out air
between your lip
and teeth.
Do not use your voice.

Examples /p/ × /f/

pan × fan, pull × full, peel × feel, copy × coffee, cup × cuff

Examples /f/ × /v/

fan × van, fine × vine, few × view, leaf × leave 24 /
 Vowels
Consonants

/
v/ /v/ pronunciation

Touch your top teeth

with your bottom
lip.
Blow out air
between your lip
and teeth.
Use your voice.

Examples /b/ × /v/

ban × van, B × V, best × vest, boat × vote, cabs × calves

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Examples /f/ × /v/
fan × van, fine × vine, few × view, leaf × leave

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 Vowels
Consonants

/
w/

/w/ pronunciation

Make your lips round and

hard for /w/.
Quickly relax your lips.

Examples /v/ × /w/

V × we, vet × wet, vest × west, vine × wine, veil × whale

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 Vowels
Consonants

/θ/
/θ/ pronunciation

Put the tip of your

tongue between your
front teeth.
Blow the air between
your tongue and top
teeth.
Do not use your voice.

Examples /s/ × /θ/

sick × thick, sum × thumb, sink × think, mouse × mouth, pass ×
path
 tie × thigh, tree × three,Vowels
tanks × thanks, bat × bath
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Consonants
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/
ð/
/ð/ pronunciation
Put the tip of your
tongue between your
front teeth.
Blow the air
between your
tongue and top
teeth.
Use your voice.

Examples /d/ × /ð/

day × they, dare × there, doze × those, breed × breathe

Examples /z/ × /ð/

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Vowels
Consonants

/
m/
/m/ pronunciation

Close your lips.

Blow the air
between your
tongue and top
teeth.
Use your voice.
The sound /m/ comes
through your nose.

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Examples /m/
make, summer, time, met, small, comes, smart, remember

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 Vowels
Consonants

/
n/
/n/ pronunciation
Put the tip of your
tongue on the roof of
your mouth just behind
your top teeth.
Do not close your
lips. Use your voice.
The sound /n/ comes
through your nose.

Examples /m/ × /n/

me × knee, mail × nail, mine × nine, comb × cone, gum × gun

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 Vowels
Consonants

/
ŋ//ŋ/ pronunciation

Touch the back of the

roof of your mouth with
the back of your tongue.
Use your voice.
The sound /ŋ/ comes
through your nose.

Examples /n/ × /ŋ/

thin × thing, ban × bang, ran × rang, fans × fangs, wins × wings

Examples /ŋk/ × /ŋ/

think × thing, bank × bang, sink × sing, rink × ring
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 Vowels
Consonants

/
l/
/l/ pronunciation
Put the tip of your
tongue just behind
your front teeth.
Use your voice.
To make the sound /l/,
the air goes over the
sides of your tongue and
out of your mouth.

Examples /n/ × /l/

night × light, no × low, nine × line, connect × collect, snow ×
slo
w
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 Vowels
Consonants

/
l/
/l/ pronunciation

/l/ sounds a little

different at the end of a
word or before a
consonant.
As you say /l/, raise
the back of your
tongue toward the roof
of your mouth.

Examples /n/ × /l/

ten × tell, pin × pill, bone × bowl, mine × mile

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 Vowels
Consonants

/
r/
/r/ pronunciation
Turn the tip of
your tongue up.
Do not touch the roof
of your mouth with the
tip of your tongue.
Make your lips a little
round.

Examples /l/ × /r/

long × wrong, light × write, pilot × pirate, glass × grass, cloud ×
crow
d
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 Vowels
Consonants

/r/ after Vowels

/r/ pronunciation

To say the sound /r/

after a vowel, curl the tip
of your tongue up.
Do not touch the roof
of your mouth with the
tip of your tongue.

Examples /l/ × /r/

heel × hear, pail × pear, fall × four, file × fire, towel × tower

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 Vowels
Consonants

/
ər /
/@r/ pronunciation
Practice the short sound /ə/.
Curl the tip of your tongue
up and back to say /ər/.
The sound /ər/ is
pronounced as one short
sound.

Examples /@r/
The sound /ər/ is used in many unstressed syllables spelled with a
vowel+r . The examples below show when to use the sound /ər/.
Stressed syllables are in bold.
waitər, lawyər, actər, portər, farmər, teachər

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 Vowels
Consonants

/ər/
(stressed)
Stressed /ər/ pronunciation

Practice the short sound

/∧/.
Close your mouth a little.
Curl the tip of your tongue
up and back to say /ər/.
The sound /ər/ is
pronounced as one sound.

Examples /ər/
fur, stir, burn, hurts, shirt, bird, girl

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