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)

In English, ‘-ed’ or ‘-d’ are pronounced with variations including three possible pronunciations including /t/, /d/ or /ɪd/.

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