English letters. English alphabet with pronunciation and transcription

The English alphabet is based on the Latin alphabet and consists of 26 letters. Of these, 6 are vowels: A, E, I, O, U, Y.
20 consonants: B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Z

The letter "Y" can convey both a vowel and a consonant. In combination with a vowel, the pronunciation is very close to Russian [th] and denotes the sounds [j] or [y]

yellow, yes, you, yard, young, yoga, yogurt
day, they, boy, toy, buy, eye

Forming syllables and being paired with a consonant, the letter “Y” conveys the vowel sound [i]

baby, mystery, system, funny

and sound [ai] in words

my, cry, analyze, cycle, sky, reply

In the alphabet, each letter has its own sound name, i.e. alphabetical reading.

Transcription signs are used to convey sounds in writing. Each sign corresponds to only one sound inherent to it. Transcription signs are written in square brackets: for example, the letter A and its alphabetical name (sound) is [ei].

In the alphabet, the letters are read unambiguously, one letter - one sound.

The letters Z and R are read differently in the British and American versions.
The British version of Z is (zed), the American version of Z is (zi).
The British version of R is (a), the American version of R is (ar).

Knowledge of the English alphabet is also necessary due to the discrepancy between the pronunciation of words and their spelling. Therefore, you may often be asked to repeat a word by letter - Can you spell that, please?

English alphabet with pronunciation and transcription

* In the column " Pronunciation"Given in Russian letters the approximate sound of the letter names. And in the column " Transcription" a more accurate pronunciation is given using phonetic transcription.

The alphabet is the basis. This is where learning your native language begins. We become familiar with the writing of letters and their sound meanings. Learning English is no exception, since the English alphabet is the first and most important step, the basis that will allow you to create the skeleton of your future knowledge!

So, let's begin!

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet: 20 consonants and 6 vowels.

Consonants: "B", "C", "D", "F", "G", "H", "J", "K", "L", "M", "N", "P", " Q", "R", "S", "T", "V", "W", "X", "Y", "Z".

Vowels: "A", "E", "I", "O", "U", "Y".

Depending on the arrangement and combination, the letters sound differently. In total there are 44 sounds.

Table of letters of the English alphabet: transcription, pronunciation in Russian

The table presents the alphabet in a simple form, where you can clearly see how English letters are written, get acquainted with their transcription, designation in Russian and listen to the pronunciation of each letter in English.

A small digression - Why is transcription needed?

Because when written, the letters of the English language are different from how they are pronounced. In general, transcription is a graphic recording of the sound of a word, i.e. For us Russian speakers and English learners, it helps to hear the differences between the spelling of a word and its pronunciation.

The table shows each letter of the English alphabet with transcription, spelling in Russian, as well as voice pronunciation. To listen to the audio sound, simply click on the play button of the desired letter.

The first thing anyone who wants to master English needs to learn is, of course, the English alphabet. Let's talk about him. Since there is a lot of information, I divided it into sections.

Letters of the English alphabet.

The modern English alphabet has 26 letters (in English, letters are called letters or characters - chars for short). Each letter can be uppercase (uppercase / large) or lowercase (lowercase / small). Latin letters became the basis for the English alphabet.

The exact shape of printed letters depends on the font.

Inscription of letters of the English alphabet.

I highlighted the vowels in red and the consonants in blue.

The sound of the letters of the English alphabet differs in different versions. So the last letter Z in the English pronunciation sounds [zed] /, and in the American one it sounds [zi] /. The British pronounce “zed” because the letter is derived from the Greek letter “Zeta”, which passed into Old French as “zede”, from where it migrated into the English alphabet in the 15th century as “zed”.

Americans pronounce the letter “z” by analogy with the names of other letters: B, C, D, etc. The first American pronunciation of the letter “z” was recorded in Lye's New Spelling Book in 1677. This decision was long disputed, but was completely accepted in 1827 after Webster's publications.

Today, most of those who study the English alphabet also call this letter. Most likely, this trend is explained by the fact that in most songs about the alphabet it is sung, since it is easier to choose a rhyme for this pronunciation option.

• — Now I know my A-B-Cs

• — Next time won’t you sing with me?

But the British are not lagging behind, and today the ending of the song is also widespread

• - Sugar on your bread. Eat it all up before you are dead.

English humor, isn't it?

English alphabet capital letters.

Pay attention to the new trend of writing the capital letter A. Today it is customary to write it the same way as the small letter, although previously it was written similar to the Russian capital A. Here is a variant of the old spelling.

It is worth saying that among those studying the English alphabet in other countries, few people use capital letters. This trend is also emerging in countries where English is their native language. Look at the two handwritten texts. In the first version, ordinary letters are used for writing, connected in a letter in a way that is convenient for the writer. The second version uses capital letters of the English alphabet, of course, with handwriting features.

And here’s what a calligraphically verified version of handwritten English looks like. The written English alphabet looks exquisite.

And this is what English doctors write. Reminds me of something, doesn’t it?

Copybooks of the English alphabet.

I offer you a set of copybooks of the English alphabet. Click to enlarge.

English alphabet in words.

English alphabet with transcription and pronunciation

Vowels of the English alphabet.

There are 6 vowels in the English alphabet. Do not accept saying “vowel letters of the English alphabet”. A letter is an outline of a sound. A vowel or consonant, as well as voiced, hard, soft, hissing, etc., can only be sound. OK, let's move on to the letters of the English alphabet that convey the vowel sound. These are A, E, I, O, Y, U - a total of 6. Each letter can express several sounds.

• [ı:] – long and;
• [ı] – short and;
• [ɜ:] – wide e;
• [ıə] – ie;
• [α:] – long
• [e] - short E

• [əυ] – eu;
• [ɒ] – short o;
• - long y;
• [ʌ] – short a;
• [ᴐ:] – long o.

• – yu;
• [ʌ] – short a;
• [u] – short u.

This is how the vowels of the English alphabet are read. Let's move on to consonants.

Consonants of the English alphabet.

There are 20 consonants in the English alphabet.

History of the English alphabet.

The evolution of the English alphabet is evident over the last 1500 years. Although the modern English alphabet contains 26 letters, there used to be more.

After the 6th century, when Christian monks began transliterating Anglo-Saxon using Latin characters, they encountered some difficulties. Anglo-Saxon contained several sounds that could not be written in Latin. Therefore, the monks borrowed three old runes: ð (interdental voiced з), þ (interdental voiceless s), and Ƿ (uinn, analogous to the modern W). The presence of these runes, ligatures (combinations of letters) æ and œ, as well as the absence of J and Y, is one of the characteristic features of the Anglo-Saxon alphabet. Look at the Beowulf manuscript.

Under the influence of the Norman script, the runic character of the English alphabet gradually faded away and the letters ð, þ and Ƿ soon disappeared. Instead of Ƿ, they began to use double V -> VV, which gradually became an independent letter W as a result of the use of printing presses.

How did Y and J join the English alphabet? Y and U are derived from V, as a result of the differentiation of consonants and vowels. J came from I.

With his characteristic ingenuity, Benjamin Franklin tried to improve the English alphabet. He suggested removing c, j, q, w, x, and y, since they could be replaced by other letters. He also suggested adding six letters of his own invention. But Franklin's alphabet did not catch on.

Today, the most common letters in the English alphabet are e, t, a, o. The rarest ones are x, q, z.

When you start learning English, the first thing you encounter is the English alphabet (english alphabet [ˈalfəbɛt ]). Writing English letters is not something completely new even at the very initial stage of learning, because any modern person encounters English letters on the keyboard of a computer and telephone every day. Yes, and English words are found at every step: in advertising, on the labels of various products, in store windows.

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But even though the letters seem familiar, their correct pronunciation in English is sometimes difficult even for those who speak English quite well. Everyone is familiar with the situation when you need to spell an English word - for example, dictate an email address or the name of a website. This is where the wonderful names begin: i - “like a stick with a dot”, s - “like a dollar”, q - “where is the Russian th”.

English alphabet with pronunciation in Russian, transcription and voice acting

The English alphabet with Russian pronunciation is intended only for beginners. In the future, when you become familiar with the rules of reading English and learn new words, you will need to study transcription. It is used in all dictionaries, and if you know it, it will once and for all remove the problem of correct pronunciation of new words for you. We advise you to compare the transcription icons in square brackets with the Russian equivalent at this stage. Perhaps, from these short examples, you will remember some of the relationships between English and Russian sounds.

Below is a table showing the English alphabet with transcription and Russian pronunciation. Notice how the uppercase and lowercase letters look.

← Move the table to the left to view in full

Below, you can listen to all the letters of the English alphabet at once:

Alphabet trainer

Choose the letter that matches its pronunciation.

English alphabet cards

Cards of the English alphabet are very effective in learning it. Bright and large letters will be easier to remember. See for yourself:

You can make such cards yourself, for example, according to the sample above. Next, print, cut out the letters and arrange them in the correct sequence.

For children, on the English alphabet cards you can depict animals in addition to the letters so that they can immediately memorize new words and the learning process is not boring.

Features of some letters of the English alphabet.

In the English alphabet 26 letters: 20 consonants and 6 vowels.

The vowels are A, E, I, O, U, Y.

There are a few letters in the English language that we want to pay special attention to because they have certain features that need to be taken into account when learning the alphabet.

• The letter Y in English can be read as a vowel or as a consonant. For example, in the word “yes” it is a consonant sound [j], and in the word “many” it is a vowel sound [i] (and).
• Consonant letters in words, as a rule, convey only one sound. The letter X is an exception. It is transmitted by two sounds at once - [ks] (ks).
• The letter Z in the alphabet is read differently in the British and American versions (as you probably already noticed in the table). The British version is (zed), the American version is (zi).
• The pronunciation of the letter R is also different. The British version is (a), the American version is (ar).

To make sure that you pronounce English letters correctly, we recommend not only looking at them and reading them (using transcription or the Russian version), but also listening. To do this, we advise you to find and listen to ABC-song. This song is usually used when teaching children the alphabet, but it can also be useful for adults. ABC-song is very popular in teaching, it exists in various variations. If you sing it with the announcer several times, you can not only check the correct pronunciation of the letters, but also easily remember the alphabet along with the melody.

Listen to a song about the English alphabet:

A few words about spelling

So, we have learned the English alphabet. We know how English letters are pronounced individually. But moving on to the reading rules, you will immediately see that many letters in different combinations are read completely differently. A reasonable question arises - as the cat Matroskin would say - what is the benefit of memorizing the alphabet? In fact, there are practical benefits.

The point here is not the ability to recite the alphabet from beginning to end, but the ability to easily spell any English word. This skill is necessary when you need to write down English names under dictation. If you need English for work, this skill can be very useful, since English names, even those that sound the same, can be written in several ways. For example, Ashley or Ashlee, Mila and Milla, not to mention last names. Therefore, for the British and Americans themselves, it is considered absolutely natural to ask to spell a name if you need to write it down (spell it) - hence the word spelling (spelling), which you can see in various tutorials.

Online exercises to reinforce the alphabet

Choose the letter that goes

Complete the letter with which the word begins.

Complete the letter that ends the word.

Decipher the code and write down the secret message in letters. The number corresponds to the order of the letters in the alphabet.

You can apply the acquired knowledge in practice with the help. With the help of unique exercises, even at the most basic level, you will be able to master not only reading, but also writing English words, as well as learn basic grammatical rules and continue learning further.

Learning any foreign language, including English, requires that first of all you must learn the English alphabet. An alphabet is a collection of letters arranged in a certain order. Letters are the basis of many languages. They are already used to make up words, phrases and sentences that make up our communication. cubes with the English alphabet Knowing the English alphabet will help you feel more confident. For example, foreigners, when they do not understand a particular word, are asked to spell it. Most often they ask for first and last names. Therefore, it is important to know by heart not only the letters of the English alphabet themselves, but also how they are pronounced correctly.

Below is a table of letters of the modern English alphabet. This table is equipped with Russian and English transcription. You can download it to your computer and print it out to make the alphabet easier to learn and repeat at any time.

Download English alphabet

Have you heard this sound?

The English language has had written language since the fifth century AD. Previously, the English alphabet included only 23 letters. Gradually, new ones came - these are Y, J, W. Modern English takes the Latin alphabet as its basis and currently consists of 26 letters that represent 6 vowel sounds - A, E, I, O, U, Y, and 20 consonants sounds - B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Z.

By the way, Y can represent both a consonant and a vowel. The letter W denotes a consonant sound, but is used only in combination with other sounds. In fact, the number of sounds in this language exceeds the number of letters in it. Also, in the Russian language there are no sounds that are pronounced with aspiration, but the sounds of the English language are almost all pronounced with aspiration.

It is worth noting that there are some differences in British and American pronunciation. For example, in the UK the letter Z is called “zed”, and in America it is called “zee”. The most common words in English are E and T, and the least common are Z and Q.

The English language is also known for the fact that it has digraphs. These are signs that indicate the fusion of two letters into one sound.

How I opened the transcription

Transcription is what is enclosed in square brackets. This is a graphical representation of how letters should be pronounced. Transcription is always written with special characters in square brackets. The stress in it is placed before the stressed syllable. Transcription will greatly help you in your further study of the English language, because in this language there are significant differences between the way a word is written and the way it is read.

At the initial stage, having Russian transcription will make your life easier. However, if you decide to learn English seriously, then you should also learn transcription, because only it will be used later.

Further, you will come across transcriptions mainly in dictionaries, because the pronunciation of words is also recorded using transcription. And if in the future you have doubts about how a word is read, then the best solution would be to check the dictionary. English alphabet with transcription

Why learn the alphabet?

Learning the alphabet is always on the list of basic lessons in learning any language. This is not surprising, since without knowing the letters of the language you will not be able to speak, read or write. The table given in this article will help with this. All you have to do is download it to your computer, print it and hang it in a visible place.

Very soon you will learn all the letters and also pronounce them correctly. Knowing the English alphabet in the correct order will make it easier for you to find the right word in the dictionary in the future, and will also help you read abbreviations. Therefore, move forward boldly and decisively towards new knowledge. Remember that any exciting journey begins with the first step.