Sounds of the letter a in English. English letters and sounds

Having studied the Russian alphabet, we can easily read any texts. But to read correctly in English you will have to put in more effort, because there are many discrepancies between the spelling and pronunciation of words. If you decide to learn this language on your own and cannot understand how to read words in English correctly, then this material is exactly what you need. Today we will look at the nuances of pronunciation of English letters and letter combinations, and find out how easy it is to learn to read English from scratch. A table that shows all the letters and their sounds will help you learn the rules of reading English for beginners.

First, let's get acquainted with the most important law of reading in English - the rule of open and closed syllables. There is no similar norm in the Russian language, so we will analyze in detail what it is. Please pay attention to the transcription.

An open syllable is a syllable that ends with a vowel sound. As a rule, it occurs in the following cases:

• The word ends in a vowel, so the last syllable is always open: t ake[take].*
• A vowel is followed by a consonant, followed by another vowel sound: ed uca tion [education].
• There are two vowels adjacent to the word: cr ue l [cruel].

*Final e in most cases it is considered “dumb”, that is, it is not pronounced, but appears at the heart of the word precisely to form an open syllable.

In open syllables, the vowel is always pronounced smoothly and drawn out. Accordingly, closed syllables are all those syllables in which the vowel sound is closed by a consonant and therefore sounds short and abrupt: c ut[cat].

In addition, special reading rules in English language characteristic of syllables in which the vowel sound ends with the letter r. The fact is that in the British version of the pronunciation of such syllables, the letter r is often completely omitted, i.e. not pronounced. Therefore, there are two options for reading such letter combinations:

1. In an open syllable, when r is surrounded by vowels, only both vowels are read: c are[keea]. In such cases, the last e will not be dumb.
2. In a closed syllable ( voice+r+acc.), r is also unreadable, but affects the sound of the vowel sound, making it longer: start [staat]

The rule of open and closed syllables is the basic law of reading in English, although there are many exceptions to it. But it’s too early to teach exceptions without knowing the main rules. Therefore, now we will look at the sound options of all letters and letter combinations.

Other English topics: How to write St. Petersburg correctly in English

Rules for reading English for beginners - letter and sound correspondence table

Even if you started learning English and reading it from scratch, you are probably already familiar with the spelling and sound of all the letters of the English alphabet. But, as we already learned from the previous section, when reading, the pronunciation of letters depends on the type of syllable or letter combination. Therefore, in the tables below you can find several sound options for the same letter. But don't be alarmed, there will be an accessible explanation for each case. So, let's continue to learn English for beginners and learn the rules of reading in English.

Consonants

Let's start with the easiest thing: with a table of consonants, the pronunciation of which is similar to the Russian sound.

Letter	Transcription	Russian pronunciation
B	[b]	b
D	[d]	d*
F	[f]	f
K	[k]	To
L	[l]	l
M	[m]	m
N	[n]	n
P	[p]	P
R	[r]	R
S	[s]	With
	[z]	z (only in special positions: after voiced consonants, between two vowels and in the suffix –ism.)
T	[t]	T*
V	[v]	V
W	[w]	V**
Z	[z]	h

*English d and t are pronounced with more aspiration than their Russian counterparts.

**w is pronounced with the lips extended into a tube, the result is something between the Russian sounds v and u.

Now let's look at more complex letters.

Letter	Transcription	Pronunciation and explanations
C	[s]	s (before vowels i, e, y)
	[k]	to (in other cases)
G		j (before vowels i, e, y)
	[g]	g (in other cases)
H	[h]	Very weakly pronounced Russian X (almost just a strong exhalation)
Q		kv
X		ks (before a consonant or at the end of a word)
		gz (between two vowels)
	[z]	z (at the beginning of a word before a vowel)

We will also study letter combinations of consonants in English.

Combination	Transcription	Pronunciation
ck	[k]	To
ch		h
tch
ng	[ŋ]	nasal n
ph	[f]	f
sh	[ʃ]	w
th	[θ]	1) sound intermediate between s and f (tongue between teeth) 2) the sound is average between z and v (tongue between teeth)
wr	[r]	R
wh	[w]	u/v x (only before o)
qu		kv

In addition, it is worth considering that the English language never allows consonants at the very end of a word to be deafened. Otherwise, you may say something completely different from what you wanted. For example: back [back] – behind, behind; bag [bag] – bag, sack.

Vowels

It is much more difficult to cope with reading English vowels, but the already familiar rules of open and closed syllables will help us understand it. We take them into service and learn to read the vowels of the English language correctly.

Closed syllable
Letter	Transcription	Pronunciation	Examples
A	[æ]	uh	bat, track, sad
E	[e]	uh	pet, red, check
I	[ɪ]	And	pit, fill, tin, system, myth, lynx
Y
O	[ɒ]	O	spot, not, cross
U	[ʌ]	A	spun, truck, butter

Do not forget that in a closed syllable all letters are pronounced briefly.

Open syllable
Letter	Transcription	Pronunciation	Examples
A		Hey	game, flame, lake
E		And	he, be, Pete
I		ah	mine, like, nine, cry, bye, type
Y
O	[əʊ]	OU	bone, tone, rose
U		Yu	pupil, music, cube

And the vowels of an open syllable are always smooth and drawn out.

Open syllable with r
Letter	Transcription	Pronunciation	Examples
A		ea	square
E	[ɪə]	ie	here
I		aye	tired
Y
O	[ɔː]	oo	more
U		Yue	cure

We remember that the letter r after a vowel, as a rule, is not pronounced.

Behindcovered syllable with r
Letter	Transcription	Pronunciation	Examples
A	[ɑː]	ahh	dark
O	[ɔː]	oo	sport
E	[ɜː]	e	pert, bird, myrtle, burn
I
Y
U

Now we know how to read vowels in English words. But for perfect reading in English, it is necessary to study one more point.

Diphthongs and triphthongs in English

An important aspect of English for beginners is diphthongs and triphthongs, i.e. combinations of two or three letters that have a special sound. Their pronunciation is called sliding, because. First, the main sound is pronounced intensively, and then it is smoothly transferred to the secondary sound. Diphthongs are a kind of exception and do not obey general grammatical laws, so they can only be learned by heart. The table below will help us learn the rules for reading English diphthongs for beginners.

English diphthongs
Combinations	Transcription	Pronunciation
air, ear, are		uh*
ye, igh, uy, ie		ah
ea, ey, ay, ai, ei		Hey
ere, eer, ier, ear	[ɪə]	IEE
oh, oh	[ɔɪ]	Ouch
ou, ow		awww
ou, ow, oa, ol	[əu]	oooh
ure, ue, our, oor		wow
English triphthongs
ower, our		aaue
eur, ure		Yuyue
iet, ire, ier, iar, yre		aaye

*doubling the letter indicates the length of the first sound in relation to the second.

So, we have looked at the main nuances of reading in English. Treat the stated rules responsibly: conduct reading lessons more often and be sure to learn to distinguish between types of syllables in English. Otherwise, you will make gross mistakes in pronunciation, which will lead to a complete misunderstanding of your words by the interlocutor. Good luck in learning English and see you again!

Greetings, my dear readers.

Today we continue to talk about how to learn to read correctly, so the topic of today's article is transcription of English letters.

We have already introduced you to the concept and dealt with the pronunciation of sounds in English. Today we will figure out exactly how they are pronounced in various combinations.

I have a clear table for you. It contains the letters of the English alphabet with transcription, Russian analogue letters and my notes so that you can immediately get the correct pronunciation. I also added examples of words with the sounds being studied and their translation.

What else can you find on the blog:

1. with letters and transcription (you can study them online, download, print and work with them);
2. for children I have a full .

Let `s start?

Features of English transcription:

• it is always formatted with square brackets. I can’t say exactly where it came from, but I think it’s just worth taking it for granted;
• to understand where the stress is, the transcription uses the sign [‘] before the stressed syllable;
• It is important to remember that transcription is about the sound, not the spelling of words. Sometimes the spelling can be 90% different from what we pronounce;
• to show that a sound is long we use a colon.

In general, I wrote about English transcription - please!

Letters of the English alphabet and their transcription in Russian and English:

English letter	Transcription	Russian equivalent
Aa		Hey
Bb		Bi
Cc		Si
Dd		Di
Ee		AND
Ff	[ɛf]	Eph
Gg		Gee
Hh		H.
II		Ay
Jj		Jay
Kk		Kay
Ll	[ɛl]	Al
mm	[ɛm]	Em
Nn	[ɛn]	En
Oo	[əʊ]	OU
Pp		Pi
Qq		Q
Rr	[ɑː] or [ɑɹ]	A or Ar
Ss	[ɛs]	Es
Tt		Tee
Uu		YU
Vv		In and
Ww	[ˈdʌb(ə)l juː]	Double
Xx	[ɛks]	The ex
Yy		Wye
Zz	,	Zed, zee

But do you know what is the most interesting thing about English?

If combined different letters, they are pronounced differently!

That's why I prepared for you

Examples of English letter combinations in Russian and English:

Combination	Transcription	How to pronounce	Example
ee	/i:/	AND	bee - bee
ea	/ ı:/	AND	tea - tea
oo	/u/	U	cook - to cook
th	/ ð / / Ѳ /	Z, S (interdental)	thumb - finger
sh	/ ʃ /	Sh	shout - shout
ch	/tʃ/	H	chair - chair
ph	/f/	F	phone - phone
ck	/k/	TO	snack - snack
ng	/ Ƞ /	Ng	song - song
wh	/w/	Ua	why - why
wr	/r/	R	write - write
qu	/kw/	Kua	queen - queen
igh	/aı/	Ay	high - high
all	/Ɔ:l/	Ol	tall - tall
ai	/eı/	Hey	Spain - Spain
ay	/eı/	Hey	May - May
oi	/oı/	Oh	point - point
oh	/oı/	Oh	toy - toy
ow	/oƱ/	OU	grow - grow
ou	/aƱ/	Ay	out - outside
ew	/ju:/	YU	knew - knew
aw	/ Ɔ: /	Ooo	draw - draw
ee+r	/ ıə /	Eeyore	engineer - engineer
ou+r	/aƱə/	Aue	our - ours
oo+r	/ Ɔ: /	Ooo	door - door
wo+r	/ ɜ: /	Y/O	work - work
ai+r	/eə/	Ea	chair - chair
oa+r	/ Ɔ: /	Ooh	roar - scream
might	/Ʊd/	Oud	could - could
ound	/aƱnd/	Aund	round - round
eigh	/eı/	Hey	eight - eight
-y	/ ı /	AND	tiny - tiny
au	/ Ɔ: /	Oo	Paul - Paul
gh	/f/	F	laugh - laugh
aught	/Ɔ:t/	From	taught - taught

I know this table seems huge right now. Surely you think that remembering all this is unrealistic. I'll tell you this: at a certain point, when you have enough, you won't even pay attention to these combinations. Your brain will learn to quickly remember how exactly these letters sound. Moreover, even when you come across a word that is completely unfamiliar to you, you will be able to read it correctly. The only question is the amount of practice on your part.

How to remember combinations of letters?

1. Use cards. Visual perception is better developed in most people.
2. Read. Pay attention to combinations of letters when or just texts.
3. Don't get hung up. It is not necessary to immediately memorize these combinations and only then move directly to English. Learn as you go!
4. Buy paper or download a good one e-book in order to quickly learn to recognize combinations and pronounce them correctly. Even if you, an adult, need it, don’t hesitate to take books for children - everything there is explained in detail and is not without interest.

That's all, my dears. I hope you found it useful and understandable. I provide even more similar materials in the blog newsletter - subscribe and receive a dose of useful information regularly.

In the English (British) pronunciation system there are 44 sounds, which are divided into 24 consonants and 20 vowels, including 8 diphthongs. The following table shows individual English sounds and their corresponding English transcription signs, as well as examples of words in which they are pronounced.

Table of sounds of the English language:

Consonants
[ f ] five	[ d ] do	[ v ] very	[ k ] key
[ θ ] thick	[ g ] gas	[ ð ] this	[ tʃ ] chin
[ s ] so	[ dʒ ] Jim	[ z ] zoo	[ m ] mother
[ ʃ ] ship	[ n ] no	[ ʒ ] pleasure	[ ŋ ] long
[ h ] horse	[ l ] less	[ p ] park	[ r ] river
[ b ] book	[ j ] yellow	[ t ] tea	[ w ] white
Vowel monophthongs
[ i: ] eat	[ ə ] paper	[ i ] it	[ ʌ ] cup
[ e ] pen	[ ʊ ] cook	[ æ ] bad	[ u: ] school
[ a: ] art	[ ɜ: ] girl	[ ɒ ] box	[ ɔ: ] all
Vowel diphthongs
[ ai ] like	[ eə ] air	[ aʊ ] house	[ ʊə ] poor
[ ɔi ] boy	[ əʊ ] home	[ ei ] lake	[ iə ] ear

Classification of English sounds

According to the mechanics of education, English sounds are primarily divided into vowels And consonants phonemes. Pronunciation of vowel sounds involves active vibration vocal cords and free passage of exhaled air through all speech organs. Consonant sounds, on the contrary, are formed by overcoming various obstacles, cracks and passages formed by the muscles of the vocal apparatus when the air stream exits.

Let us consider in more detail the classification of the sounds of the English language according to individual signs of articulation (the position of the speech organs when pronouncing sounds) and their comparison with Russian sounds.

Consonant sounds of English

When pronouncing consonant sounds, the air encounters various obstacles on its way, formed by the active organs of speech: tongue, lips, teeth and alveoli.

If the organs of speech close so that they completely block the passage for air, then we pronounce stop consonant. Such consonants are also called explosive, because when the speech organs open, a small explosion is heard.

[ p ] , [ b ] , [ t ] , [ d ] , [ k ] , [ g ]
English stop plosives

[ P ], [ b ], [ T ], [ d ], [ To ], [ G ]
stop plosives Russian sounds

If air passes out through the nasal cavity, then such closing sounds are called nasal.

[ n ] , [ m ] , [ ŋ ]
English nasal stop sounds

[ n ], [ m ]
Russian nasal stop sounds

If the organs of speech do not close completely, but leave a narrow passage - a gap for air, then we pronounce slotted consonant.

[ θ ] , [ ð ] , [ ʃ ] , [ ʒ ] , [ s ] , [ z ] , [ h ] , [ f ] , [ v ] , [ w ] , [ r ] , [ j ] , [ l ]
English fricative sounds

[ With ], [ h ], [ f ], [ V ], [ w ], [ sch ], [ and ], [ l ]
Russian slot sounds

Among the consonants there are octopus-frictional sounds. They are called so because the opening of the barrier occurs slowly; the complete obstruction becomes a gap.

[ tʃ ] , [ dʒ ]
English stop-friction sounds

[ ts ], [ h ]
Russian stop-friction sounds

An obstacle to the path of exhaled air can be formed by various speech organs. If the lower lip gets closer to the upper lip, then labiolabial consonants.

[ p ] , [ b ] , [ m ] , [ w ]
labialial English sounds

[ P ], [ b ], [ m ]
labial Russian sounds

If the lower lip touches the upper teeth, then such consonants are called labiodental.

[ f ] , [ v ]
labiodental English sounds

[ f ], [ V ]
labiodental Russian sounds

If the tip of the tongue is between the lower and upper front teeth, then it is pronounced interdental consonant. There are no such sounds in the Russian language.

[ θ ] , [ ð ]
interdental English sounds

Russian consonants [ T ], [ d ], [ n ], [ l ] - dental, since the end of the tongue rises to the inner surface of the upper teeth. English consonants [ t ] , [ d ] , [ n ] , [ l ] , [ ŋ ] - alveolar, as the tip of the tongue touches or rises to the alveoli.

[ k ] , [ p ] , [ s ] , [ t ] , [ f ] , [ h ] , [ tʃ ] , [ ʃ ] , [ θ ]
voiceless consonants of English

[ To ], [ P ], [ With ], [ T ], [ f ], [ X ], [ h ], [ w ], [ sch ]
voiceless consonants of the Russian language

[ b ] , [ v ] , [ g ] , [ d ] , [ z ] , [ l ] , [ m ] , [ n ] , [ r ] , [ ʒ ] , [ dʒ ] , [ ð ]
voiced consonants in English

[ b ], [ V ], [ G ], [ d ], [ and ], [ h ], [ l ], [ m ], [ n ], [ R ], [ ts ]
voiced consonants of the Russian language

Vowel sounds of English

To classify English vowel sounds, we consider various provisions tongue relative to the hard palate, as well as what part of the tongue is involved in articulation and how high the back of the tongue rises to the hard palate.

Distinguish front vowel sounds when the tip of the tongue rests against the base of the lower teeth, and the back of the tongue comes quite close to the hard palate: English vowel [ i:] and Russian [ And ].

If the tongue is pulled back and the tip of the tongue is lowered, and the back of the tongue is raised towards the soft palate, we pronounce back vowel sounds: English sound [ a:] and Russian sounds [ O ], [ at ].

By the position of the lips they distinguish rounded And unrounded vowel sounds. For example, when pronouncing the Russian sound [ at] lips round and move forward: [ at] is a rounded vowel. When pronouncing [ And] lips are slightly stretched, but not pushed forward: sound [ And] - unrounded vowel.

The quality of the vowel depends on the tension of the muscles of the speech organs: the more tense the articulation, the clearer and brighter the sound. Accordingly, vowels are distinguished tense And relaxed. For example, the English vowel sound [ i:] is pronounced with more tension than [ i ] .

Pronunciation of English sounds

By looking at the contents of our English phonetics guide, for each of the English sounds you will find detailed description features of its pronunciation and articulation, methods of transmission in writing and examples of sound, as well as comparisons with other sounds and their Russian analogues.

The Sound Word service makes it easy to find out transcription, pronunciation and translation of English words online.

To use it, you need to enter a word and click “Search”. After a short pause, he produces a transcription English word, pronunciation and translation. For convenience, there are two options: British and American. You can also listen to pronunciation options online.

What is transcription?

Phonetic transcription is a graphic recording of the sound of a word; pursues the goal of accurate graphic recording of pronunciation. Each individual sound must be recorded separately. Phonetic transcription is written in square brackets; special phonetic symbols are used for recording.

Why is transcription of English words needed?

Know English transcription healthy. This makes it possible to easily read and correctly pronounce an unfamiliar English word on your own, without outside help. Just look in the dictionary or use online services. Everyone knows that reading English words is a rather specific process, based not on “putting together” words from letters, but rather on converting letter combinations into combinations of sounds. Of course, there are certain reading rules that you need to know and apply. But there are many more words that do not obey these rules. This is where transcription comes to the rescue, allowing you to find out the correct pronunciation of an English word, and, accordingly, its reading.

install a widget on Yandex for learning the English alphabet

Dear reader, if before studying English you became familiar with the names of Latin letters in chemistry or physics ( H 2 O - "ASH-Two-O", mv 2 /2 - "EM-VE Square in Half") or at least when playing chess ( e2-e4 - "E Two - E Four"), then the transcription of English letters may have become an unpleasant surprise for you.

Out of habit, such names of English letters as A - "hey", E - "and", I - "ay" And R - "a"(in the latter case the sound " R"although it is implied, it is very often not pronounced or pronounced very quietly). A latin letter W, which in Russian is traditionally called " double-ve", called in English " double", that is " double U", although its bottom edge in the printed image has two sharp, rather than rounded protrusions. This happened because in the old days U And V did not differ. There are also differences between American, British and Scottish English, between formal and colloquial English.

And you also need to not get confused with G - "ji", J - "jay" And H - "H", and explain to particularly gifted telephone interlocutors that "pi"- This P, not a Greek letter π (the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter ( ≈3,14 ), while herself π pronounced in English "share".

Impeccable automatic knowledge of the names of English letters is a very important skill that should not be neglected when learning English. Why is this necessary? Isn’t it better to practice your grammar or expand your vocabulary? But the pronunciation of letters is not theoretical phonetics divorced from life. The fact is that English abbreviations are almost always spelled out, and you may also be asked to spell out your name or some alphabetic code ( "Could you spell your name, please?" ).

And if you don’t know the names of the letters, you’ll have to blush and mumble something unintelligible. And some English abbreviations entered the Russian language with incorrect pronunciation, for example VIP should be pronounced like "wee-ay-pee", but has already taken root in the Russian language as "vip". When abbreviations contain several identical letters in a row, they are often pronounced using the words "double-" and triple- ("triple"), for example, when you need to name an Internet address, www pronounced "triple double".

What should you do if you need to pronounce some alphabetic code in a radio exchange in the air or at sea? You can't allow misunderstandings and hiccups in negotiations between pilots and air traffic controllers, or in negotiations between English-speaking military personnel and their non-English-speaking allies, so that the gunner does not mix up the code for the square "i" How "e".

To prevent ambiguity or misunderstanding, a code is used to represent letters in words, known as "NATO code"(phonetic alphabet of the International Civil Aviation Organization ICAO). Surprisingly, even this code has shortcomings in certain situations, which is why in some cases the letter names in it had to be replaced.

And if you want the English alphabet with transcription to unobtrusively scroll through before your eyes every time you go to Yandex, then you can install a Yandex widget that will scroll through the letters of the alphabet forward, backward, or separately.