Pronunciation Guide

How to Speak English

Pronunciation symbols in dictionaries:

In dictionaries, the British pronunciation is given first.

Consonants

p	pen	/pen/
b	bad	/bæd/
t	tea	/tiː/
d	did	/dɪd/
k	cat	/kæt/
ɡ	get	/ɡet/
tʃ	chain	/tʃeɪn/
dʒ	jam	/dʒæm/
f	fall	/fɔːl/
v	van	/væn/
θ	thin	/θɪn/
ð	this	/ðɪs/
s	see	/siː/
z	zoo	/zuː/
ʃ	shoe	/ʃuː/
ʒ	vision	/ˈvɪʒn/
h	hat	/hæt/
m	man	/mæn/
n	now	/naʊ/
ŋ	sing	/sɪŋ/
l	leg	/leɡ/
r	red	/red/
j	yes	/jes/
w	wet	/wet/

The symbol (r) indicates that British pronunciation will have /r/ only if a vowel sound follows directly at the beginning of the next word, as in far away; otherwise the /r/ is omitted. For American English, all the /r/ sounds should be pronounced.

/x/ represents a fricative sound as in /lɒx/ for Scottish loch, Irish lough.

Vowels and diphthongs

iː	see	/siː/
i	happy	/ˈhæpi/
ɪ	sit	/sɪt/
e	ten	/ten/
æ	cat	/kæt/
ɑː	father	/ˈfɑːðə(r)/
ɒ	got	/ɡɒt/ (British English)
ɔː	saw	/sɔː/
ʊ	put	/pʊt/
u	actual	/ˈæktʃuəl/
uː	too	/tuː/
ʌ	cup	/kʌp/
ɜː	fur	/fɜː(r)/
ə	about	/əˈbaʊt/
eɪ	say	/seɪ/
əʊ	go	/ɡəʊ/ (British English)
oʊ	go	/ɡoʊ/ (American English)
aɪ	my	/maɪ/
ɔɪ	boy	/bɔɪ/
aʊ	now	/naʊ/
ɪə	near	/nɪə(r)/ (British English)
eə	hair	/heə(r)/ (British English)
ʊə	pure	/pjʊə(r)/ (British English)

Many British speakers use /ɔː/ instead of the diphthong /ʊə/, especially in common words, so that sure becomes /ʃɔː(r)/, etc. The sound /ɒ/ does not occur in American English, and words which have this vowel in British pronunciation will instead have /ɑː/ or /ɔː/ in American English. For instance, got is /ɡɒt/ in British English, but /ɡɑːt / in American English, while dog is British /dɒɡ/, American /dɑːɡ/. The three diphthongs /ɪə eə ʊə/ are found only in British English. In corresponding places, American English has a simple vowel followed by /r/, so near is /nɪr/, hair is / her/, and pure is /pjʊr/.

Nasalized vowels, marked with /～/, may be retained in certain words taken from French, as in penchant /ˈpɒ̃ʃɒ̃/ and coq au vin / ˌkɒk əʊ ˈvæ̃/.

Syllabic consonants

The sounds /l/ and /n/ can often be "syllabic" – that is, they can form a syllable by themselves without a vowel. There is a syllabic / l/ in the usual pronunciation of middle / ˈmɪdl/, and a syllabic /n/ in sudden /ˈsʌdn/.

Weak vowels /i/ and /u/

The sounds represented by /iː/ and / ɪ/ must always be made different, as in heat /hiːt/ compared with hit /hɪt/. The symbol /i/ represents a vowel that can be sounded as either /iː/ or /ɪ/, or as a sound which is a compromise between them. In a word such as happy /ˈhæpi/, younger speakers use a quality more like /iː/, but short in duration. When /i/ is followed by /ə/ the sequence can also be pronounced / jə/. So the word dubious can be /ˈdjuːbiəs / or /ˈdjuːbjəs/. In the same way, the two vowels represented /uː/ and /ʊ/ must be kept distinct but /u/ represents a weak vowel that varies between them. If /u/ is followed directly by a consonant sound, it can also be pronounced as /ə/. So stimulate can be /ˈstɪmjuleɪt/ or /ˈstɪmjəleɪt/.

Weak forms and strong forms

Certain very common words, for example at, for, and can, have two pronunciations. We give the usual (weak) pronunciation first. The second pronunciation (strong) must be used if the word is stressed, and also generally when the word is at the end of a sentence. For example:

·         Can /kən/ you help?

·         I’ll help if I can /kæn/.

Tapping of / t /

In American English, if a /t/ sound is between two vowels, and the second vowel is not stressed, the /t / can be pronounced very quickly, and made voiced so that it is like a brief /d/ or the r-sound of certain languages. Technically, the sound is a "tap", and can be symbolised by /t̬/. So Americans can pronounce potato as /pəˈteɪt̬oʊ/, tapping the second /t/ in the word (but not the first, because of the stress). British speakers don’t generally do this.

The conditions for tapping also arise very frequently when words are put together, as in not only, what I, etc. In this case it doesn’t matter whether the following vowel is stressed or not, and even British speakers can use taps in this situation, though they sound rather casual.

The glottal stop

In both British and American varieties of English, a /t/ which comes at the end of a word or syllable can often be pronounced as a glottal stop /ʔ/ (a silent gap produced by holding one’s breath briefly) instead of a /t/. For this to happen, the next sound must not be a vowel or a syllabic /l/.

So football can be /ˈfʊʔbɔːl/ instead of /ˈfʊtbɔːl/, and button can be /ˈbʌʔn/ instead of /ˈbʌtn/.

But a glottal stop would not be used for the /t/ sounds in bottle or better because of the sounds which come afterwards.