English Sounds: Vowels & Consonants
English Sounds: Vowels & Consonants
Vowels
· Monophthongs
(Pure Vowels)
/ɪ/ sit,
very, curry, ladies
/iː/ meet,
bee, seize, sea
/e/ bed,
head, many, red
/ə/ ago,
again moment
/ʌ/ cut,
hut, nut, shut
/ɑ:/ card,
farm, mart, calm
/æ/ hand,
cat, rat, sat
/ɒ/ dog,
fog, pot, hot
/ɔ:/ lord,
cord, all, short
/ɜ:/ third,
girl, shirt, bird
/ʊ/ book,
look, cook, put
/u:/ fool,
cool, tool,
· Diphthongs
/aɪ/ buy, high,
sky, height, pie, dye
/eɪ/ bay, hey
fate, jail, take, gave
/ɔɪ/ boy, toy,
oil, coil, boil, soil
/əʊ/ home, road,
slow, sow, row, so
/aʊ/ now, how,
brown, crown, mouth
/eə/ spare, chair,
tear, there
/ɪə/ here, deer,
dear, idea, weird
/ʊə/ poor, sure,
cure, pure
Consonants
/p/ pen, apple
/b/ banana, rabbit
/t/ teacher, letter,
watched
/d/ dog, address, lived
/k/ cat, clock, kangaroo,
mechanic, queen
/g/ go, bigger
/f/ foot, traffic, phone,
laugh
/v/ vegetable, of, live
/Ɵ/ Thin, think, thing
/ð/ mother, breathe
/s/ sun, glass, city, nice, scenery
/z/ zero, brothers, raise, maze,
jazz
/ʃ/ shower, sugar, national,
machine, special
/ʒ/ television, beige, change
/tʃ/ chair, match, picture
/dʒ/ job, gym, image, fridge
/m/ man, summer, lamb
/n/ nurse, tennis, knife
/ŋ/ ring, singer
/h/ house, who
/l/ land, wall
/r/ river, tomorrow, write
/w/ week, when, why
/j/ You, yogurt, useful
The
Pronunciation of ‘-s/-es' or 's (Plural, Third Person Singular Verb (V5) and
Possessives)
In English, the -s/-es, 's ending has three possible pronunciations:
/s/ sound: hats /hæts/
/z/ sound: loves /lʌvz/, bag’s price (/bægz/)
/ɪz/ sound: misses /mɪsɪz/
1) ‘-s’ as /s/ sound
The ‘-s’ is pronounced as /s/ when added to the words
with voiceless sounds at the end. The following are the voiceless sounds:
Sounds Example
/p/ claps
/t/ cats
/k/ lacks
/f/ laughs
/θ/ maths
Note: Voiceless consonants are all those
sounds produced without vibration or any obstructions in the vocal cords. Vocal
cords openly permit air to pass from the lungs to the mouth during the
production of these sounds, where the tongue, teeth, and lips work together to
influence the sound.
2) ‘-s’ as /z/ sound
The ‘-s’ is pronounced as /z/ when added to the words
with voiced sounds at the end. The following are the voiced sounds:
Sounds Example
/b/ tabs
/d/ dads
/g/ logs
/v/ loves
/ð/ breathes
/m/ arms
/n/ runs
/ŋ/ things
/l/ calls
/r/ wars
Note: A
voiced consonant is one that is pronounced by vibrating the vocal cords.
3) ‘-s’/ ‘-es’ as /ɪz/
The ‘-s’ or ‘-es’ is pronounced as /ɪz/ when added to the words with the sounds or letters at the end.
Sounds Ending Letters Example
/S/ -s, -ss bus-buses, class-classes
/Z/ -es, -z cause-causes, buzz-buzzes
/ʃ/ -sh wash-washes, brush-brushes
/ʒ/ -ge garage-garages
/ʧ/ -ch watch-watches, catch-catches
/ʤ/ -ge change-changes, ridge-ridges, badge-badges
The pronunciation of the ‘-ed or -d’ (Past and Past Participle of a Regular Verb)
1. The past or past participle form of a regular verb (-ed
or -d) is pronounced as /t/ when the base of the verb ends in a voiceless sound.
Sounds Letters Example
/p/ -p stop- stopped
/k/ -ck, -k, -ke lock-locked, cook-cooked, like-locked
/s/ -ce, -s, -ss, -x notice-noticed, kiss-kissed, miss-missed,
fix-fixed
/f/ -ph, -f laugh-laughed, huff-huffed, puff-puffed
/θ/ -th bath-bathed,
mouth-mouthed
/ʧ/ -ch watch-watched
/ʃ/ -sh wash- washed
2. The past or past participle form of a regular verb (-ed
or -d) is pronounced as /d/ when the base of the verb ends in voiced sound.
Sounds Letters Example
/b/ -b rob-robbed, grab-grabbed
/g/ -g tag-tagged, plug-plugged, beg-begged
/z/ -z, -zz, -ze, -se buzz-buzzed,
analyze-analyzed, cause- caused
/v/ -v, -ve love-loved,
save-saved
/ð/ -the breathe-breathed, loathe-loathed,
clothe-clothed
/ʒ/ -ch watch-watched, touch-touched
/dʒ/ -dge,
-age encourage-encouraged, damage-damaged
/m/ -m, -mb claim-claimed, climb-climbed,
aim-aimed
/n/ -n ban-banned, clean-cleaned
/ŋ/ -ng bang-banged
/l/ -ll call-called,
pull-pulled, kill-killed
/r/ -r, re prefer-preferred, compare-compared,
Also, /d/ sound is pronounced
with other voiced sounds and vowels.
Obey-obeyed
Play-played
Copy-copied
Allow-allowed
Study-studied
3. The past or past participle form of a regular verb (-ed
or -d) is pronounced as /ɪd/ when the base of the verb ends in either a /d/ or /t/
sound.
Sounds Examples
/d/ load-loaded, hand-handed, add-added
/t/ want-wanted, rest-rested, test-tested
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