A bit of help
with the English
pronunciation ;)
Some explanations first…
There are 26 letters in English and
44 sounds. That means that the same
sound is pronounced in several
different ways. But it is also possible
for different combinations of letters to
be pronounced in the same way
To be able to read a word from the
dictionary, you must know the
International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA)
The IPA
Voicelss??? Voiced???
• The throat does
not vibrate when
you pronounce • The throat
the sounds - p, t, vibrates when you
tʃ, k, f, θ, s, ʃ. pronounce the
So, you do not sounds – b, d, dƷ,
use your voice… g, ð, v, z, ʒ, m, n,
ŋ, h, l, r, w, j.
So, you use your
voice…
Any questions?
No?
Then, let’s
study the rules!
The “names” of the
vowels
• a /ei/
• e /i/
• i /ai/
• o /ǝƱ/
• u /u:/
But!!!
Remember!!!
There are a number of very
common English words that do not follow
the rule. They end in –ve, -m e, -n e:
• have /hæv/ live/liv/
• some /sǝm/ come /kʌm/
• done /dʌn/ none /nʌn/
So, the vowels are short.
The “E effect” is to be seen
not only in one syllable
words. It appears in the two
or three syllable ones, too:
- decide, accuse, abide,
alone, clone, title;
- generate, validate,
operate, calculate.
Double consonants
Most doubled consonants do not change from their
single sound value (e.g. rub, rubber, fat, fatter, thin, thinner).
The following doubles, however, can undergo the changes
described below:
● cc /ks/ when followed by e or i: success, accident, succinct
/tʃ/ in borrowed Italian words: cappuccino
● gg /dƷ / when followed by e or i: suggest, exaggerate
● ss lʃl when followed by -ion (passion, permission) and -ure
(pressure)
● zz /ts/ in some borrowed Italian words:
pizza, mozzarella
Extra explanations about the
“al” combination
• When they come in the same syllable and are
followed by the letter “k” they are read / / : walk,
talk;
• When they are in the same syllable, but followed by
other letter they are read
/ l/ : always, falcon, false;
● When they are in separate syllables the
combination is mostly read /æl/ or /ǝl/:
gallop, calamity, fallacious.
• The ar combination is read /a:/.
The ir, er and ur
combinations are read
mostly, but not always /ɜ:/:
first, bird, dirty, learner,
teacher, fur, furnace, turn.
• “W” is either pronounced as the
Romanian “u” or it is not pronounced
at all.
There are some words in which
the consonants are “silent”
(written, but not read). Here are a
few examples:
• b in subtle, doubt, climb
• c in scissors, scene, muscle
• d in Wednesday, sandwich, handkerchief
• g in gnaw, ought, long
• h in hour, what, ought
• k (always in kn combinations at the
beginning of a word) know, knee
●l in talk, half, could, should, would
●n in autumn, column
●p in psychology, pneumonia,
cupboard, receipt
●r in car, more, core, bother (in non-
rhotic accents)
●s in island, aisle
●t in listen, whistle, often (though some
speakers pronounce it in often)
●w in write, wrong, two, answer, yellow
But how do we
pronounce the
consonants?
In a few ways each
C
/k/ cat
/s/ when followed by e, i or
y: cent, cinema, cycle
/∫/ before certain suffixes:
ious and ial delicious,
prejudicial
G
/g/ go
/dƷ/ when followed by e, i, or
y: gentle, gin, gym, refrigerate
(Some exceptions are very
common words: get, give and girl.)
/dƷ/ before a suffix: oius
contagious, prestigious
/ Ʒ/ in certain originally
borrowed words: prestige, mirage
S
/s/ sun, sleep, loss, eats, sleeps
/z/ when between two vowels:
present, losing or at the end of a word,
after a voiced consonant (hands,
minds), or after a vowel (loses, houses)
/∫/ between a consonant and a
following i: mansion, pension
/Ʒ/ between two vowels: vision,
measure, lesion
T
/ t/ cat, too
/∫/ when followed by a letter i
in many suffixed words:
information, substantial, ambitious
/t∫/ in words ending in -ure
picture, furniture, denture
X
/ks/ fix, mix,fixture, mixture
/gz/ between vowels: exam,
exact
/x/ at the beginning of words
like xylophone and xenophobe
y
/j/ at the beginning of words: yes,
yellow
/ I/ between consonants: gym,
bicycle / i:/ at end of words: city,
busy (In connected speech this can be
pronounced as /i/.)
/ai/ in short words (why, my, by) and
in stressed final syllables apply, deny)
/ai/ in words ending in -fy (satisfy,
beautify) and in gynecology, psychology
and related words.
Helps form diphthongs in boy, gay, buy,
obey etc
What about the
consonant
combination?
ck
/k/ pick, kick, pickle
ch
/t∫/ chip, change
/k/ character, technique
/∫/ machine
gh
/g/ ghost, ghastly
/f/ tough, cough
Silent ought, though
Most of the times when “gh” is
inside a word, it is silent and
makes the vowel before it say its
“name”
ng
/ŋ/ sing, thing, singing
ph
/f/ phone, photograph, graphology
sh
/∫/ ship, sheep, cash,fashion
qu
/kw/ queen, quiz, antiquated
/k/ in a word ending in -que
(antique, oblique) or at the
beginning of some borrowed
words (quiche)
tch
/t∫/ watch, catch, matching
th
/θ/ theatre, bath
/ð/this, brother, bathe
wh
/w/ what, where, nowhere
/h/ who, whole
Now, some help with the
vowels and their
pronunciation.
Remember the “names” of
the vowels? Yes? Good!
Then it is time for the short
pronunciation of them.
a
/æ/ cat, hat,fat
/a:/ in RP and Southern British
English before some two-
consonant letter combinations:
bath, grass but not before others:
bank, mass
e
/e/ let, met, set
I
/I/ sit, lit, kit
o
/ɒ/ hot, got, lot
u
/ʌ/ cup, bus, hut
The combinations of
vowels also have different
pronunciations.
Let’s investigate!
English has a number of vowel
digraphs where two vowel letters
'take the name' of the first letter, e.g.
ai is pronounced /ei/ like the letter A .
Most vowel digraphs have more than
one sound associated with them -
some have many more than one.
They must be learnt by heart… as no
one can give you a clear rule…
ai
/ei/ raid, train
oa
/ǝƱ/ coat, goal, approach
/ /Jabroad, board
ue
/u:/ blue, due, sue
/ju:/ value, queue
ea
/i:/ dream, neat
/ei/ break, great
/e/ dead, ready
/ɜ:/ learn, heard
/eƏ/ bear, tear (verb)
/iƏ/ near, tear (noun)
/a:/ heart, hearth
ee
/i:/ tree, need
/I/ week form as in been /bin/
ei
/i:/seize, either, receive
/ai/ height, either
/ei/ eight, reign
ou
/ƏƱ/ soul, shoulder
/aƱ/ house, sprout
/ʌ/ double, trouble, tough
/u:/ soup, routine
/ɒ/ cough
/Ɔ:/ bought, nought
Some combinations of
vowel letters do not follow
the 'naming' rule, as follows
au
/ / daughter, cause
/a:/ aunt, laugh, laughter
eu
/u:/ or /ju:/ neutral, neuter
/'pil or /jua/ for some speakers:
neuralgic, neurosis, Europe
oi
/ i/ coin,join, disappoint
oo
lu:l food, boot
l ʌ / blood,flood
/Ʊ/ book,foot
Let’s see now some other
combinations and their
pronunciation ;)
-cial /∫Əl/ racial, facial
-cious /∫Əs/ spacious
-tion /∫Ən/ pronunciation
-ture /t∫Ə/ lecture, picture
-shire /∫aiƏ/ Lancashire
-able /ƏbƏl/ teachable,
enjoyable
-ible /IbƏl/ or /ƏbƏl/ visible
