English alphabet. English letters and their transcription

The rules of reading in English are extensive and complex, because... There is a huge discrepancy between letters and sounds: there are 26 letters and 44 sounds, so different letters in different positions produce different sounds, which in English are conveyed by conventions called transcription marks. In this post, to make it easier to learn the rules of reading, we denote them partially in Russian letters.

4 Basic Types of Vowel Reading

First, let's learn the 4 main types of reading vowels E, A, Y, U, O, I in stressed syllables in English

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I reading type - open syllable ( a syllable ending in a vowel is considered open, even if it is not pronounced)

Pay attention to the first row of the table. The words same, note, he, fine, my, cube, like all words of this category, end in a silent vowel, and the reading of the vowels in the root of the word coincides with the name of the letters according to the alphabet. Thus, words with silent vowels at the end, i.e. words of type 1 reading same, note, he, fine, my, cube, will sound like “seim, note, hee, fine, may, cube”

Let's consolidate the reading of vowels in a stressed syllable with the following exercise:

Note, lone, mice, rice, type, tune, shy, lay, say, he, hay, name, same, nine, nice, game, came, make, Kate, Pete, five, tie, life, eve, me, size, no, cope, smoke, rose, nose, spine, sly, cry, vine, maze, home, tube, made, fume, cube, pace, lace, sky, hale, spine.

II reading type – closed syllable (a syllable ending in a consonant is considered closed). This is the second row in the table. Pay attention to the words rat, hot, red, bit, myth, run, which do not have a silent vowel at the end. These words sound like "rat, hot, ed, beat, miss, ran."

Cap, pen, bed, ten, not, spot, lot, bad, rat, sit, send, test, pit, in, send, spell, tin, less, ban, mad, fat, Sam, land, did, fit, sat, pet, tin, slip, sad, glad, bag, jam, gap, lag, can, kin, Jim, Jack, yes, ink, cup, run, cod, spin, not, doll, hop, hot, bank, rank, spin, up, us, bus, bun, cut, fun, vet, well, but, nut.

III type of reading – vowel + letter “r” , which affects the sound of the vowel at the root of the word, giving it some prolongation. So the words car, sort, term, fir, Byrd, fur sound like “ka: so:t, te:m, fe: be:d, fe:”.

stern , Far, curt, hard, hart, car, card, cart, fork, cork, work, sort, term, first, Byrd, furs, curl, her, curb, turn, girl, sir, burn, turn, word, born, torn, bird, form, serf, herb.

IVreading type – vowel + letter “r” + vowel. The letter “r” is also unreadable in this case; all three vowels together sound like this: care, store, mere, tire, cure - “kea, hundred:, mie, taie, kue.”

Fare, here, pure, rare, cure, during, mare, fire, bare, mire, stare, tire, sere, mere, store, core, more, care.

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 are 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: Essay on the topic “My hobby in English” - how to write the best

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.

*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.

We will also study letter combinations of consonants in English.

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.

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

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

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

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.

*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!

The English alphabet does not contain so many letters, there are only 26 of them. However, there are many more sounds. There are 44 of them. For this reason, in the English language, most letters can convey different sounds, which ones directly depend on their location in the word. Those who are just starting to learn English are faced with the problem of correctly reading certain letters of the English alphabet. To begin with, to make it easier to understand how English letters are pronounced, learn the rules for reading them; it won’t take you much time.

Letters and sounds

Of course, we should start with the alphabet. As noted earlier, there are 26 letters in the English alphabet, of which only 5 are vowels: A, E, I, O, U. There are 21 consonants: B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L , M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, Z. By the way, in some cases the letter Y should sometimes be considered as a vowel. So, how to read English letters. First of all, it should be noted that words in English consist of two types of syllables: open and closed. As an open syllable, we can imagine a syllable in which the last letter is a vowel. For example, move, rose, fame. As for the closed syllable, it ends with a consonant. For example, cat, bob, hen. Thus, the sound of vowels will directly depend on which syllable, open or closed, they are part of. Now, in order to make it easier to understand how reading occurs, we should consider in detail how English letters are read in Russian.

Open syllables

• Let's start with the first letter of the alphabet - this is the letter A. In an open syllable, it gives the sound [EY]. For example, take. As for the closed syllable, here it will be read as [E]. For example, cat.
• The letter O makes the sound [ОУ] in an open syllable. For example, rose. And in closed - [O]. For example, dog.
• The letter U makes the sound [Yu] in an open syllable. For example, use. In a closed syllable it is read as [A]. For example, bus.
• The letter E is read like [I] in an open syllable. For example, Pete. And in a closed syllable it is pronounced like [E]. For example, pet.
• The letter I is read like [AY] in an open syllable. For example, Mike. And, like [I] - in a closed syllable. For example, pig.
• The letter Y is pronounced like [AY] in an open syllable. For example, fly. In a closed syllable it sounds like [I]. For example, system.

Closed syllables

Now we should consider how English letters sound in a closed syllable. It should be noted that in English quite often vowel letters are combined into letter combinations. So, two letters OO are pronounced like [y]. For example, book. In this case, the sound can be either long or short. The combination of letters EE is read as a long [I]. For example, see, bee. A combination of letters such as EA is also pronounced as a long [I]. For example, tea, speak. And combinations of the letters AY and EY are pronounced like [EY]. For example, away, grey. As for consonant letters, they are most often read in the same way as they are pronounced in the alphabet. However, there are exceptions - these are the letters C and G. They are read before the vowels i, e and y, like [C] and [J]. For example, city, page. As for other vowels, before them C is pronounced like [K], and G like [G]. For example, gate, cock.

Popular letter combinations

When considering how English letters are read, it is necessary to note the most common letter combinations that are most often used in oral speech.

• First of all, this is a combination of CH. It is pronounced like [H]. For example, chat.
• The combination SH is read as [Ш]. For example, shame.
• The combination of the letters N and G gives the long nasal sound [N]. For example, sing, swing.
• And the combination PH gives the sound [F]. For example, phone.
• The letters KN are pronounced like [N]. For example, know.

This list can be continued for a very long time, since the English language is quite complex and multifaceted, but the beginning has been made, you have already learned the basics, so go ahead! Put in maximum effort, work and patience, and as a result you will succeed!

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

You can look at another version of the English transcription and, if necessary, print or copy it for editing in Microsoft Word
English Transcription

Pronunciation of English sounds.

Pronunciation of English vowels.

The pronunciation of English sounds is presented in Russian letters; you should understand that it is not possible to convey the correct English pronunciation using the Russian alphabet.

• ɑː long, deep
• ʌ short vowel a, as in the Russian word run.
• ɒ = ɔ - short, open about
• ɔː - long o
• zː - long vowel e, 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 = u - short u, pronounced with a slight rounding of the lips.
• uː - long u pronounced without strong rounding of the lips.

Two-vowel sounds

Pronunciation of English consonants.

• p - p
• b - b
• m - m
• f - f
• v - in
• s - s
• z - z
• t - resembles the Russian sound t, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• d - resembles the Russian sound d, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• n - resembles the Russian sound n, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• l - resembles the Russian sound l, pronounced with the tongue positioned at the gums.
• r is a very hard sound pronounced without vibration of the tongue. Corresponds to the sound r 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 ch)
• k - k
• h - inhale, reminiscent of a faintly pronounced x sound
• ju - long yu in the word southern
• je - sound e in the word spruce
• jɔ - sound ё in the word fir-tree
• jʌ - the sound I in the word pit
• j - resembles the Russian sound й before vowels. Occurs in combination with vowels.

English consonant sounds that have no approximate correspondence in Russianː

• w - formed with the help of rounded lips (as in whistling). It looks like a sound uttered with just lips. In translation it is denoted by the letters в or у ː W illiams - Williams, Williams.
• ƞ - Open your mouth slightly and say n without closing your mouth.
• ɵ - Move the slightly spread tip of your tongue between your teeth and pronounce Russian with
• ð - Move the slightly spread tip of your tongue between your teeth and pronounce Russian z

In modern English there are 26 letters that make 46 sounds, therefore, many English letters have more than one reading option. During this lesson we will continue to get acquainted with the rules of reading English letters. We will look at the features of reading the vowels I and Y in open and closed syllables.

In a closed syllable, the letters I and Y are read as a short sound [ɪ]. By the way, a closed syllable is one that ends with one or more consonants (except r). Here are examples of words in which I and Y are in a closed syllable:

milk - milk, kitten ["kɪt(ə)n] - kitten, pin - pin, mitten ["mɪt(ə)n] - mitten, lynx - lynx.

The vowel letter Y has its own reading characteristics. At the beginning of a word, before a vowel, the letter Y makes the sound [j]. Here are examples of such words: yard - yard, year - year, yes - yes, you - you, yoghurt ["jɔgət] - yogurt. The vowel Y often comes at the end of a word in an unstressed syllable. An unstressed syllable is a syllable that is pronounced with less strength and length than the stressed one. In this position, the vowel Y is pronounced as a short sound [ɪ]. Here are examples of such words: baby ["beɪbɪ] - child, cherry ["ʧerɪ] - cherry, teddy ["tedɪ] - teddy bear ( Fig. 2.), puppy ["pʌpɪ] - puppy, lady ["leɪdɪ] - lady.

So, now you know how to read the English vowels I and Y in open and closed syllables.

Rice. 2. Teddy bear ()

You already know that the vowel letter E in an open syllable is read as a long sound. Now you have learned that the vowel letter I in a closed syllable produces a short sound [ɪ]. It is very important to correctly pronounce short and long sounds in English, since the meaning of words often depends on this. For example, sheep [ʃ iː p] - sheep and ship [ʃ ɪ p] - ship.

The letter combination EA also produces a long sound, for example bean. But if you pronounce this word with a short sound [ɪ], you will get a completely different word bin - trash can. In the English language there are two similar verbs, the sound of which differs in the length of the sound “and”: the verb leave - to leave, go, leave something and the verb live - to live. Please note that the word live is not read according to the rules you know, as this is an exception.

In an unstressed syllable, most English vowels become short, fuzzy sounds. Having studied the table (Fig. 3.), you can notice that vowels in an unstressed syllable are most often read as short sounds [ə] and [ɪ].

Rice. 3. Reading vowels in an unstressed syllable

The letter A in the word chocolate (chocolate) and the letter O in the word computer (computer) are in an unstressed position and are read as a short sound [ə]. The letter E in the word basket, the letter U in the word minute, the letter I in the word dolphin and the letter Y in the word baby are also in unstressed position and are read as a short sound [ɪ]. In some cases, vowels in an unstressed position are not pronounced at all, for example, in the word kitten ["kɪtn] the letter E is not pronounced. If the letter O is in an open position at the end of a word, then it is read as in the alphabet, even in an unstressed syllable:

radio ["reɪdɪəu] - radio, tomato - tomato.

Bibliography

1. Afanasyeva O.V., Mikheeva I.V. English language. 2nd grade - M: Bustard, 2014.
2. Biboletova M.Z., Denisenko O.A., Trubaneva N.N. English language. 2nd grade - Title, 2008.
3. Bykova N.I., Dooley D., Pospelova M.D. and others. English language. 2nd grade - Education, 2013.

1. Alleng.ru ().
2. Alleng.ru ().
3. learnathome.ru ().

Homework

1. Learn to correctly read all the words from the video lesson.
2. For each correct reading of the vowels I and Y learned, find two English example words.
3. Learn words from the video lesson and new words that you find.