The are 5 vowels and 21 consonants among English alphabet letters. Letter Combinations and Digraphs in English Alphabet Pronunciation In the table below, you can find all 26 letters in alphabet and their pronunciation in English. The English alphabet, as we know it today, combines the Roman alphabet and the additions from later periods.

In today’s article, you’ll explore all the details and nuances of the great and mighty English alphabet. Knowing letter names and their sounds is essential for the further development of speaking, reading, listening, and writing skills. Our tip: Think about where the stress is in the word, instead of saying each syllable.Alphabet English is the first thing learners face when learning this language. The ‘unstressed a’ /ə/, as in “America”, “finally”, “surface”, “about” and “was” Our tip: The sound is the same way you say the letter ‘A’ in the alphabet. The ‘long a’ /eɪ/, as in “play”, “make”, “name”, “say”, “came”, “change” and “face” Our tip: The mouth needs to be open, and the tongue relaxed. The ‘short a’ /æ/, as in “cat”, “add”, “began”, “last”, “back”, “after” and “man” So let’s look at the three sounds of the letter ‘a’ that can be tricky: When it comes to the vowel sounds, it may seem like there is no method to the madness. Our tip: try saying the short ‘i’ sound followed by the long ‘i’ sound until you can hear the difference: “ship-sheep”, “live-leave”, “sit-seat”, “hit-heat” and “fit-feat”.

You may want to pronounce them as long ‘i’ sounds, as in “leave”, “seat” or “feet”. Like a ‘z’, as in “cause”, “reason”, “realism”, “advise”, “always”, “is” and “was”Ī short ‘i’ sound, as in “ship”, “live”, “sit”, “hit” and “fit”, can be confusing.Like an ‘s’, as in “send”, “simple”, “song”, “system”, “street”, “lost”, “kiss” and “release”.The letter ‘s’ can be also be pronounced in two different ways: Our tip: Normally when ‘c’ is followed by an ‘i’ or ‘e’, it takes the ‘s’ sound. Like a ‘k’, as in “cake”, “come”, “cucumber”, “clean”, “cry”, “scratch”, “act” and “panic”.Like a ‘s’, as in “centre”, “receive”, “cigarette”, “cinema”, “agency” and “notice”.The letter ‘c’ can be pronounced two distinct ways: Consonants with different sounds, such as ‘c’ and ‘z’ Our tip: Practise placing your tongue behind your teeth and blow air out as you say the word. The h is silent, as in “Thai” and “Thames”.It sounds voiceless, as in “three”, “thing” and “thought”.It vibrates slightly, as in “the”, “this”, “that, “they” and “them”.There are some slight variations in the way it can sound:

Many languages don’t have this sound, so don’t be put off if you can’t get it straight away. The ‘th’ is certainly one of the hardest consonant sounds in the English alphabet to master. Our tip: It is pronounced as a ‘g’ at the beginning of words (like 'ghost'), and it is either silent or pronounced as ‘f’ at the end of words and syllables. It can become silent in words such as 'thought', 'night' and 'bought'.It sounds like a ‘w’ sound in words such as 'though', 'through' and 'dough'.It sounds like an ‘f’ in words such as 'cough', 'laugh' and 'tough'.Pronouncing the “gh” soundĬhances are you’ve already encountered this notoriously tricky consonant combination (called a digraph) and it’s range of pronunciations: Learning these variations will really help you improve your pronunciation and sound like a native speaker. While your native language plays a big part in the types of words and sounds that you will have trouble with, there are a few common mistakes that you should look out for.Įven though each letter in the English alphabet has a certain sound, when combined with other letters, this sound can change. The 5 most common pronunciation mistakes that English learners make – and how you can avoid themįrom beginner through to advanced, when you’re learning how to speak English there are going to be some words that stump English learners, and still stump native speakers, too (we’re looking at you, “Edinburgh” and “Worcestershire”).

English alphabet spell