English letters and their transcription. Plus running combinations of English letters

Hello, potential student of Native English School!

Learning any foreign language is impossible without learning its alphabet. But memorizing letters without understanding how they sound and are used in words is meaningless. It is the knowledge of phonetics that is one of the most important stages in mastering the language. This is especially important when a person isstarts learning English and the correct pronunciation of sounds, letters and, accordingly, words is a basic skill.

English letters and their sounds

V English language- 26 letters:

6 vowels– a, e, i, o, u, y;

21 consonants– b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, y, z.

“How so? - you will say - twenty-one plus six equals twenty-seven! That's right, but the fact is that the letter "y" is both a vowel and a consonant. So decided the academicians who compile and edit the Oxford Dictionary, one of the most important dictionaries of the English language. Let's look at the English alphabet with transcription and pronunciation in Russian. Read!

First, to read sounds in English, you need to know how they are spelled. We can help you find out more on this, but now let's go back to the article and try to figure it out, but they are written in square brackets - this is called phonetic transcription. English has vowels and consonants. Just like in Russian, vowels are pronounced with an open mouth, and consonants with a closed one.

Table of pronunciation of English sounds

In some words, the number of letters and sounds may differ. For example, in the word help (help) - 4 letters and 4 sounds, but in the word six (six) - three letters, but 4 sounds. Each letter has its own sound, but in English there are such concepts as digraphs- these are two letters denoting one sound: gh [g] - ghost (ghost), ph [f] - photo ['foutou] (photo), sh [ʃ] - shine [ʃaɪn] (shine), th [ð] or [θ] - think [θɪŋk] (think), сh - chess (chess) and diphthongs- passing vowels from one to another: ea - bread (bread), ie - friend (friend), ai - again [əˈɡen] (again), au - autumn [ˈɔːtəm] (autumn), etc.

It is worth noting that digraphs and diphthongs are read differently depending on the part of the word. For example, gh in the middle of a word is not pronounced: light (light), and at the end it sometimes sounds like “f”: enough [ı’nʌf] (enough); oo can be pronounced as a long [ʋ:], "u" in Russian: moon (moon), short [ʋ]: good (good), as a short [ʌ], similar to "a" in Russian: blood (blood ), but together with “r” it’s completely different, like [ʋə]: poor (poor).

The English language is becoming more and more widespread every day. Today it is spoken by most of the world's population, which automatically makes it an international language of communication. In addition to the American continents, it is studied in Europe and Asia. Australia, being part of the former British Empire, has long recognized English as its official language. If in Western Europe American and British English are studied by children from a very early age, but in Russia, Ukraine and other CIS countries it is treated very mediocrely. The school curriculum is casually passed through the most frequency words, while children are not really explained the rules for their use. All this makes people learn on their own, which is much more difficult. Today we will analyze how the vowels of the English alphabet are used in words. They affect the quality of pronunciation and perception of the language.

The consonants of the English alphabet are the basis of all words. The total number of letters is 26, of which 20 are consonants, and there are only 6 vowels in English. Despite such a meager number, they can take various forms pronunciation, as a result, from 6 letters, about 20-24 sounds are obtained. All vowels and consonants are listed in the table below:

As you can see in the picture, the vowels in the English alphabet are highlighted yellow. A transcription is written next to each letter, thanks to which you can learn how to pronounce this or that letter correctly. The need for transcription has always been due to the fact that to explain correct pronunciation on the example of the Russian language is simply impossible. If in Russian one letter is equated to one sound, then most of the vowels in the English alphabet are pronounced using a combination of two phonemes.

The last letter "Yy" can be a vowel or a consonant, depending on the type of syllable. This should be taken into account when reading morphemic analysis words. Which sound will determine this or that letter depends on its position in the word and syllable.

Types of syllables in the English alphabet

At the lessons of the Russian language, everyone studied an unshakable rule: how many vowels in a word, so many syllables in it. This also applies to the English language, which greatly simplifies its learning. For example, take the word "octopus", which means "octopus". Oc-to-pus - three vowels and three syllables. The example is remarkable in that it has everything we need: open and closed syllables.

open syllable

This concept means a syllable that ends in a vowel or consists of one vowel:

1. A [hey] - indefinite article, consisting of one letter, is an open syllable. Therefore, the article is read as indicated in the transcription.
2. Rules (rules) - consists of two syllables, but only the first is open. Therefore, "u" is read as in transcription, and "e" practically disappears from the word during pronunciation.
3. Far (far) - the syllable is closed. Therefore, instead of [hey], a long [a] is pronounced.

Consonants and their combinations often change the phonetic meaning of vowels in the English alphabet, forming non-syllables of different types.

Closed syllable

Book, cook, root, meet, flat, and other words where a consonant closes a syllable are words with closed syllables. In the examples listed above, "oo" is read as Russian "u", "a" instead of [hey] is read as Russian "a".

Vowels of the English alphabet: reading features

You already know that there are far fewer vowels in the English alphabet than their sounds. What else can affect the quality of pronunciation of phonemes besides the type of syllable in a word? We will look at a few basic rules that will help you start pronouncing words correctly and improve your reading skills in a foreign language.

1. The presence of the letter "R" in the word. If a letter is present in an open syllable, it is practically unreadable and merges with the adjacent vowel. This produces a sound similar to the Russian "e". If the letter is in a closed syllable, then it affects the duration of the pronunciation of the vowel: long sounds become short and vice versa.
2. stress. If the accent falls on the letters "a", "o" or "u", then their pronunciation is practically not performed. They are read casually, the duration of emphasis on these sounds is extremely short. The result is again a sound similar to the Russian "e". For example, the combination sofa-bed (sofa bed) is pronounced together, its transcription looks like [‘soufǝbǝd]. If the accent falls on "i", "e" or "y", they are pronounced like the Russian "i". For example: city, enemy.
3. Pronunciation speed. When speaking quickly, it may turn out that the stress in the word is not recognized at all. This results in the fact that a long vowel shortens the length of its pronunciation or disappears from the word altogether. All pronouns in English are pronounced with short vowels, although the rules are to speak with long phonemes.
4. Weak and strong forms. Short vowels are automatically considered weak, since they cannot take on stress, but in combination with other letters they can form new sounds. Weak short forms are mainly expressed in particles, articles and pronouns. In full-fledged words, strong long phonemes are much more common.

The most incomprehensible for a Russian-speaking person in the study of the vowels of the English alphabet is the analysis of diphthongs. The combination of two sounds for the pronunciation of one letter is new to the Russian language. For a general understanding, it is worth noting that all diphthongs are pronounced briefly, but their position in the word relative to consonants and the type of consonants themselves matter. Before deaf sounds like "f", "h", "s", "t" and others, diphthongs practically disappear from sound pronunciation and become very short.

For a better understanding of speech and the rules of its origin, it is recommended to read texts in English with automatic voice acting. Special courses or films with subtitles will do.

Learn more about what dash, colon, parentheses, and other symbols mean.

You can see another option English transcription and if it needs to be printed or copied for editing in "Microsoft Word"
English transcription

Pronunciation of English sounds.

Pronunciation of English vowels.

The pronunciation of English sounds is represented by Russian letters, you should understand what to convey the correct English pronunciation using the Russian alphabet is not possible.

• ɑː long, deep a
• ʌ short vowel a, as in the Russian word to run.
• ɒ = ɔ - short, open about
• ɔː - long o
• зː - long vowel ё, as in the Russian word hedgehog.
• æ - open e
• e - like e in the word these
• ə - unclear unstressed sound, similar to e
• iː - long and
• ɪ - short, open and
• ʊ \u003d u - short u, pronounced with a slight rounding of the lips.
• uː - long y pronounced without much rounding of the lips.

Two-vowel sounds

Pronunciation of English consonants.

• p - p
• b - b
• m - m
• f - f
• v - in
• s - with
• z - z
• t - resembles a Russian sound tpronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• d - resembles a Russian sound dpronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• n - resembles a Russian sound npronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• l - resembles a Russian sound l, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• r - very hard sound, pronounced without vibration of the tongue. Corresponds to the sound p in the word lot
• ʃ - soft Russian sh
• ʒ - soft Russian zh, as in the word yeast.
• tʃ- h
• ʤ - similar to the Russian sound j (voiced h)
• k - k
• h - breath, reminiscent of a weakly pronounced sound x
• ju - long yu in the word southern
• je - the sound e in the word spruce
• jɔ - sound ё in the word Christmas tree
• jʌ - sound i in the word pit
• j - resembles the Russian sound й before vowels. Occurs in combination with vowels.

English consonants that do not have approximate equivalents in Russianː

• w - formed with rounded lips (as in a whistle). It looks like a sound delivered with only lips. In translation, it is denoted by letters in or y ː W illiams - Williams, Williams.
• ƞ - Open your mouth and say n without closing your mouth.
• ɵ - Move the slightly flattened tip of the tongue between the teeth and pronounce Russian with
• ð - Push the slightly flattened tip of the tongue between the teeth and say Russian

So, here we got to the last sixth vowel of the English alphabet, the letter Uu. If you have studied rules for readingEnglish language according to our recommendations, you already have sufficient theoretical knowledge. However, practice is likely to be lacking. However, this is not the end of our reading course. Practice is ahead of you. More on this later.

From Lesson 25 you will learn:

• how to read a letter Uu in English;
• repeat the sounds , [ʌ], [ə:], .

Rules for reading the English letter U

Here are phrases to help you remember reading the letter U in each type of syllable. A dictionary is connected to the site and, if in doubt, click on the word and listen to how it is pronounced.

Reading the English letter U in 4 types of syllable. Tongue Twisters

1. : I don't like u dual t u nes in m u sic. I don't like ordinary tunes.

2. [ʌ]: Have l u nch with u s. - Dine with us.

3. [ə:]: I have a p ur ple p ur se. — I have a purple wallet.

4. : I am s ure. - I'm sure.

Phonetic exercises for reading the letter U in an open and closed syllable

U(I, II):

fun, music, plum, cube, pumpkin, rubber, super, drum, student, stupid, hunting, hungry, tune, tunic, luck, supper, super, to return, curl, sunny, pupil, blue, uniform, summer, suck , unit, due, ugly, mutton, butter, struggle, to construct, to consult, cluster, dub, drunk, true, tulip, use, upland, under, computer, cucumber, buck, must, to amuse, mummy, truth, gum, bubble, much, huge

to- sign of the verb. Most verbs are stressed on the second syllable.

Exceptions:

1. after letters l, r, j vowel U often read as: blue, true, truth, June, July,

2. after letters b, p, f in a closed syllable a vowel U often read like [u]: full, bush, put, pull, etc.

Words to remember:

1. busy [‘bizi] - busy
2. study [‘stʌdɪ] - to study
3. sugar [‘∫ugə] - sugar

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Phonetic exercises for reading the letter U in the third and fourth type of syllable

U (III, IV):

church, turn, burn, to return, pure, curl, curb, fur, hurt, sure, nurse, curse, curt, burning, turning, turkey, lure

In an unstressed syllable, U reads like [ə]:

to s u ppose ,fig u re [‘fɪgə], `maxim u m [‘mæksɪməm]

Phonetic exercises for practicing reading the letter U with audio recording and answers (Closed Content)

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Title: Phonetic exercises with audio recording

Description: Access to restricted content *Repeat the rules of reading in English*

Reading letter combination UI:

3. UI read -in a closed syllable after n, s: suit - suit, nuisance [‘nju: səns] - annoyance. An exception: suite - hotel room
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Reading the letter combination QU

1. qu read almost always: qu ick, qu ickly, qu iet, qu ietly, qu estion, qu iz, qu it, qu ite, s qu irrel, qu ail, qu ill, qu ilt, qu arter
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Do not confuse: qu ite- quite and qu iet- quiet

This was the last lesson of the course. "Teaching English Reading and Pronunciation Simultaneously". In conclusion, I want to once again draw your attention to the fact that in the first 20 lessons I relied on reading teaching methodology from sound to letter and in the last 5 lessons on reading teaching methodology "from letter to sound" and finally the circle is closed. There is such English expression"to round up". I hope that now you have sufficient theoretical knowledge that, as a reinforcement, study on your own a few more articles:

It is extremely important to navigate and remember in this topic as much as possible. Without such a base, it is impossible to advance further in the study of phonetics. There are 26 letters in the English alphabet. The same letter can mean one or several sounds, besides, the letters influence each other's sound, so it is able to form its own sounds whole line letter combinations.

As a result, there are much more sounds in the English language than letters - 44. Is everything clear so far? We move on. In dictionaries and writing in general, transcription is used to convey the sound of words and letters of the English language - this is a series of special icons that allow you to clarify exactly what the sound of a particular letter (or letter combination) will be in specific word with which you are dealing. Transcription of the word is usually enclosed in square brackets.

Please note: in the alphabet, most often there is also a transcription record of the sound of the letter. For example, b -, but this is not the sound that the letter gives in the word, but the name of the letter. It is not difficult to understand this by analogy with the Russian language, where when voicing the alphabet, they also say not “b”, but “be”, but when pronouncing words, you cannot say “be”, the letter sounds “b”.

Letter	Reading a letter / transcription of its pronunciation in the alphabet
A a
Bb
c c
D d
e e
F f
G g
H h
I i
J j
Kk
l l
M m
N n
O o
Pp
Q q
R r
S s
T t
U u
Vv
W w
X x
Y y
Zz

Sounds and letters in English are divided into and consonants. With consonants in the phonetic sense, the situation is somewhat simpler than with vowels. Suffice it to say that sixteen of them can give only one sound in a sentence. One letter - one sound: b - [b], d - [d], f - [f], h - [h], j - , k - [k], l - [l], m - [m] , n - [n], p - [p], q - [k], r - [r], t - [t], v - [v], w - [w], z - [z]. Only four consonants can present particular difficulties - they are capable of different situations mean two or three sounds. details about consonants in our special article.

In English, there are as many as five consonants for which there is no special letter, they can only be formed from a combination of letters. These sounds are: [ŋ] - ng, - ch, tch, [ʃ] - sh, [θ], [ð] - th. In the case of the second type of sounds, there are even more different nuances.

Despite the fact that English has only five vowels: A, E, I, O, U (one so-called "semi-vowel" - "Y", - ed.) - together they can convey twenty different sounds in different situations. For example, the letter A can hide as many as eight: , [æ], [ɑ:], [ɛə], [ɔ:], [ɔ], [ə] and even [ı]. The specific sound depends on the stress, type of syllable, pronunciation tradition (exceptions - ed.) and a number of other factors, which we will discuss in detail in a special article on consonants and letters in English.

If you want to memorize and retain in memory the numerous details of phonetic rules, transcription signs and pronunciation features, pay attention to the transcription of new words that you memorize.