Rules for reading English letters and letter combinations table. English letters and their transcription. Plus popular combinations of English letters. Clear and accessible

Reading is one of the most difficult parts of learning English. In my experience, children more or less begin to read only at the end of the second year of school, if we're talking about about high school. However, it happens that even after graduating from school, many graduates still cannot read English words.

Unlike the Russian language, almost 99% of what we see is what we read (adjusted for reduction, assimilation, etc.), in English language the situation is completely different. Historically, the same letter in different positions can be read differently.

Let's take the following words for comparison: cat - cake - want - bath - sofa. The letter “a” in these words will correspond to the following sounds: [æ], , [ɒ], [ɑ:], [ə]. And it’s not just about the 4 types of reading vowels. There are also a bunch of rules for letter combinations that regulate the reading of the letter “A”.

In fact, the English language is made up of rules and exceptions. Therefore, you can memorize reading rules as much as you like, which may not work in specific case. Why do you think the verb “to spell” is popular only in English?

To have an idea of ​​the rules of reading English, I recommend you the following manuals. You can download all of them for free using the links below;

• S.V. Shimansky “Reading Rules in English” - gives a general set of reading rules with a few examples; there are no exercises in the manual. Excellent as a cheat sheet, because... consists of only 15 pages.
• The “Reading Rules” poster is an excellent tool for visually memorizing the rules of reading English.
• Shuman S.E. "English language. Reading Rules" - a guide to reading rules for middle school students and adults. The publication contains rules for reading letters of the English alphabet, vowels and consonants, and articulation options in various language situations.
• Appendix Vasilyeva E.A. “Rules for Reading English Words for the Lazy” is a program for Windows that outlines the rules for reading one-syllable, two-syllable and polysyllabic words in the English language. The material is presented in the form of tables and models, which makes it easier to learn the rules of reading English words.
• Narrow A.F. “Rules for Reading English Words” - this book is convenient for use by teachers, students and their parents. Its goal is to develop readiness to understand spoken speech and correct reading skills.
• L.P. Bondarenko “Fundamentals of English Phonetics” is a complete textbook on phonetics for high school students. Contains many rules, examples and exercises for practicing the pronunciation of English sounds.

", transcription is used by everyone, sometimes even unconsciously. First, let's refresh our memory, what does the phrase “English transcription” mean?

English Transcription is a sequence of phonetic symbols that helps us understand how to read a particular sound or word. Often, students are faced with transcription at the beginning of learning a language, when it is still quite difficult to read even quite simple words, and then they simply don’t pay attention to it. However, this will not be the case forever.

Once a student begins to skillfully use complex grammatical structures, and is making good money lexicon for free communication, then the desire immediately appears to speak beautifully, like a native speaker, that is, to improve your pronunciation of English words. This is where we remember the good old transcription.

In order not to have to remember the well-forgotten old things, we suggest returning to the repetition from time to time. Of course, ideally, the transcription should be completed together with the teacher, because writing cannot convey all the subtleties of pronunciation, but if you are reading this article now, the foundation for beautiful pronunciation and correct reading has already been laid, and you will definitely achieve your desired goal.

Transcription of vowel sounds

There are two types of vowel sounds - single sounds and diphthongs.

[ ʌ ] - [a] - short;
[a:]- [a] - deep;
[i]- [and] - short;
[i:]- [and] - long;
[o]- [o] - short;
[o:]- [o] - deep;
[u]- [y] - short;
[u:]- [y] - long;
[e]- as in the word “plaid”;
[ ɜ: ] - as in the word “honey”.

English diphthongs

A diphthong is a sound that consists of two sounds. Most often, a diphthong can be divided into two sounds, however, this cannot be conveyed in writing. Often diphthongs are indicated not by a combination of several characters, but by their own sign.

[əu]- [ OU ];
[au]- [au];
[ei]- [ Hey ];
[oi]- [ Ouch ];
[ai]- [ouch].

Rules for pronunciation of vowels in English

• Sound " a"has four varieties:
  [ ʌ ] - short sound, as in the words “duck”, “cut”;
  [ æ ] - soft sound. There is no analogue to it in the Russian language. It is read as in the word “cat”;
  [a:]- a long sound that is read as in the word “car”;
  [ ɔ ] - a short sound that sounds similar to both “o” and “a”. In British pronunciation, it is more of an "o", as in "hot" or "not".

• Sound " e" can be read in three ways:
  [e]- for example, as in the word “let”;
  [ ə: ] - this sound is a little reminiscent of the Russian letter “ё”, only it is read a little softer. For example, "bird", "fur";
  [ ə ] - one of the most common sounds in English transcription. In sound, this sound is similar to the Russian sound “e”. It occurs only in unstressed syllables and can be practically inaudible or indistinguishable, for example, ["letə", "letter" - letter.

• Sound " i"can be long or short:
  [I]- a short sound, for example, as in the word “film”;
  [i:]- a long sound, for example, as in “sheep”.

• Sound " O"also has 2 options - long and short:
  [ ɔ ] - short sound, as in the word “bond”;
  [ ɔ: ] - a long sound, as in the word “more”.

• Sound " u" can also be pronounced in two ways. It can be long or short:
  [u]- short sound, as in the word “put”;
  [u:]- long sound, as in the word “blue”.

Transcription of consonants

In the transcription of consonant sounds, everything is quite simple. Basically they sound similar to Russian. It is enough to take a thoughtful look at the above-mentioned letter combinations a couple of times, and they will remain in your memory.

Consonants
[b]- [b];
[d]- [d];
[f]- [f];
[ 3 ] - [ and ];
[dʒ]- [j];
[g]- [ G ];
[h]- [ X ];
[k]- [ To ];
[l]- [l];
[m]- [m];
[n]- [n];
[p]- [ P ];
[s]- [ With ];
[t]- [ T ];
[v]- [ V ];
[z]- [z];
[t∫]- [h];
[ ∫ ] - [w];
[r]- soft [r], as in the word Russian;
[ O ]- a sign of softness as in the Russian letter “ё” (Christmas tree).

English consonants that are not in Russian and their pronunciation:
[ θ ] - soft letter “c”, the tongue is located between the front teeth of the upper and lower jaws;
[ æ ] - like “e”, only more sharply;
[ ð ] - like “θ”, only with the addition of a voice, like a soft letter “z”;
[ ŋ ] - nasal, in the French manner, sound [n];
[ ə ] - neutral sound;
[w]-like “v” and “u” together, soft pronunciation.

Features of English transcription

In order to make it easier to navigate reading words, it is important to know the main features of transcription:

• Feature 1. Transcription is always formatted in square brackets
• Feature 2. In order not to get confused about where to place the stress in a word, it is worth considering that it is always placed before the stressed syllable. ["neim] - transcription of the word name.
• Feature 3. It is important to understand that transcription is not the English letters and sounds that make up a word. Transcription is the sound of words.
• Feature 4. In English, transcription consists of vowel sounds, diphthongs and consonants.
• Feature 5. In order to show that the sound is long, a colon is used in transcription.

Of course, knowing only character sets, it is quite difficult to read everything correctly, because there are many exceptions. In order to read correctly, you need to understand that there are closed and open syllables. Open syllable ends with a vowel (game, sunshine), closed- on a consonant (ball, dog). Some sounds in English can be pronounced differently depending on the type of syllable.

Conclusion

It is worth remembering that in any business the main thing is practice (by the way, you can start practicing English remotely right now). Transcribing sounds in English will be easy for you if you work hard at it. Reading the rules once is not enough. It is important to return to them, work through them and repeat them regularly until they are practiced to the point of automaticity. Ultimately, the transcription will allow you to correctly pronounce sounds in English.

Memorizing English with transcription and correct pronunciation English letters and words will be perfectly supported by dictionaries. You can use both English online dictionaries and good old printed publications. The main thing is not to give up!

Inspiration to you and success in your studies. May the knowledge be with you!

Big and friendly EnglishDom family

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– 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.

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 study 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 deal with 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 your interlocutor. Good luck in learning English and see you again!

There are 26 letters in the English language. IN different combinations and positions they represent 44 sounds.
In the English language, there are 24 consonant sounds, and they are represented in writing by 20 letters: Bb; Cc; Dd; Ff; Gg ; Hh; Jj; Kk; LI; mm; Nn; Pp; Qq; Rr; Ss; Tt; Vv; Ww; Xx; Zz.
In the English language, there are 12 vowel sounds and 8 diphthongs, and they are represented in writing by 6 letters: Aa; Ee; li; Oo; Uu; Yy.

Video:

[English language. Beginner course. Maria Rarenko. First educational channel.]

Transcription and stress

Phonetic transcription is an international system of symbols used to show exactly how words should be pronounced. Each sound is shown with a separate icon. These icons are always written in square brackets.
The transcription indicates verbal stress (which syllable in the word the stress falls on). Accent mark [‘] placed before the stressed syllable.

English consonants

Features of English consonants
1. English consonants expressed by letters b, f, g, m, s, v, z, are close in pronunciation to the corresponding Russian consonants, but should sound more energetic and intense.
2. English consonants are not softened.
3. Voiced consonants are never deafened - neither before voiceless consonants, nor at the end of a word.
4. Double consonants, that is, two identical consonants next to each other, are always pronounced as one sound.
5. Some English consonants are pronounced aspirated: the tip of the tongue must be pressed firmly against the alveoli (the tubercles where the teeth are attached to the gums). Then the air between the tongue and teeth will pass with force, and the result will be a noise (explosion), that is, aspiration.

Rules for reading consonant letters in English: ,

English vowel sounds

The reading of each vowel depends on:
1. from other letters standing next to it, in front of it or behind it;
2. from being in a shock or non-stress position.

Rules for reading vowels in English: ,