Digraphs in English language is a pair of letters used to represent one phoneme in the written form of a language. The following article provides definitions, information, and ideas for teaching letter combinations in English. This article is suitable for both children and adults, as it is written in simple language. In addition, you can listen to audio and listen to how words and digraphs are read in English. Let's start learning the rules for reading letter combinations in English.

How to learn digraphs

Letter combinations in English are very common and therefore it is necessary to study them at the first stage of learning, for both adults and children. Many sites write that it is difficult even for an adult to understand how digraphs are read. We don't agree with this. Remember, anyone can learn a language, you just need to try hard and pull yourself together. Therefore, we want you to believe in yourself and forget words like: “I am not able to learn a language because I am not inclined towards foreign languages.”

The first thing you need is to read our article to the end. Second, learn several consonant digraphs and practice them by reading words and short stories. In this article you will become familiar with only consonant letter combinations in order to gradually study each digraph, and in the next article we will introduce you to vowel combinations.

Definition of digraphs

What are digraphs?
Digraphs or in English digraphs are two letters that have the same sound. Digraphs can consist of vowels or consonants. Digraphs are different from blends. While blend is a group of letters in which each letter represents an individual sound such as b-l in the word bloom or s-t-r in the word street. Let's find out what digraphs there are?

Reading and pronunciation of letter combinations in English

In this section you will learn how to read letter combinations in English.

The letters in brackets are sounds written in the International Phonetic Alphabet. First, listen to the audio and pay attention to the transcription and remember the combination of letters.

Combination of consonants in English:

• sh [ш] [ʃ] —

Examples:

1. Sh ed [ʃed] [shed] – Barn
2. Shelf [ʃelf] [shelf] – Shelf
3. Brush [brush] – Brush

• th [SS] [θ]

Listen carefully to how the combination th is read in English.

This sound needs to be given a lot of attention, since there is no such sound in our native language. This phoneme is called interdental [SS]. You need to put your tongue between your teeth and pronounce the unvoiced in English transcription it looks like this [θ] .

Examples:

- Th ick [θɪk] [SSik] - Thick
- Th rust[θrʌst] [SS(r)ast] – To thrust
— Th ug [θʌɡ] [ССаг] – Hooligan

• th [ЗЗ] [ð]– letter combination th in English it is pronounced like the previous one, but it is voiced.

Examples:

- Th is [ðɪs] [ZZis] - This is
- Th ey [ðeɪ] [ZZey] - They
- Weath er [ˈweðə] - Weather

• th – [t]— Sometimes this letter combination is pronounced like [t]:

- Th ailand [ˈtaɪ.lænd] [Thailand] - Thailand

th the combination in English may seem difficult, since there is no such phoneme in the Russian language, but in fact our organs, in this case the tongue, can learn to pronounce such phonemes. Need to listen more foreign speech. For example, British Radio. Check out the BBC radio 4 Extra website for lots of interesting stories from comedy to horror. Listen and practice English speech.

• ch [h]

The combination ch in English has several variants, so remember the pronunciation of words written with this digraph.

Examples:

1. Ch ess [chess] – Chess
2. Bench [bench] - Bench
3. Rich [rich] - Rich

• ch – [k] [K]– This letter combination in English is sometimes pronounced with the sound [K], as in the word [Cat]

Examples:

- Ch orus [ˈkɔːrəs] [koores] - Choir
- Ach e [eik] - Pain
- Ch ristmas [ˈkrɪsməs] [krismes] - Christmas

• ch – [ʃ] [w]- In some cases, the same letter combination is read as [w].

- Mach ine [machine] - Mechanism, machine
- Mach ete [masheti] - Machete
- Ch icago [ʃɪˈkɑ.ɡoʊ] [shikagou] – Chicago

• ph [ph] [f]

- Neph ew [ˈnefjuː] [nephew] - Nephew
- Dolph in [ˈdɒlfɪn] [dolphin] - Dolphin
- Phonetics [phonetics] - Phonetics

• wh [ў] [w]

Examples:

- Wh ack [ўek] - Hit
- Wh eel [ўIL] - Wheel
- Wh ite [ўight] - White

• If after the letter combination wh followed by a letter o, then the letter w unreadable:

- Who - Who

• Letter combination ck – [k]– reads like [k]

- Truck [truck] - Truck
- Neck [neck] - Neck
- Puck [pack] - Puck

• dg – [j] [j]

Example:

- Grudg e [ɡrʌdʒ] [graj] - Resentment, anger
- Budg et [ˈbʌdʒɪt] [bajit] - Budget

• gh - [f] [f]

In English the digraph gh is read as [f] in the following words:

- Cough [coff] - Cough
- Laugh [laf] - Laughter
- Rough [rough] - Difficult

• gh – [g] [g]- the same letter combination has a second sound [G]

- Gh ost [ɡəʊst] - Bringing

• gn – [n] [n]

- Gn ome - Gnome
- Gn at - Midge
- Gn aw - Gnaw

• kn – [n] [n] letter combination or digraph kn used in the following words:

- Kn ife [knife] - Knife
- Kn ight [night] - Knight
- Kn ot [notes] - Knot

* Compare: kn ight – n ight [night] - pronounced the same, written differently and translated differently. Night - night.

• lk – [k] [k]– letter L not pronounced.

- Walk [walk] - Walk
- Talk [current] - Talk

In these examples we see another letter combination al before the letter k reads like sound [ɔː] , that is, a long sound [O].

- Chalk - Chalk

• Mn – [m] [m]
  Mb [m] [m]

Words that end with (mn, mb) last letter not pronounced in this combination.

In combination mn, 'n' not pronounced.
In combination mb, 'b' not pronounced.

Look at the examples:

- Autumn [ˈɔːtəm] [ootem] - Autumn
- Column [ˈkɒləm] [kolem] - Column
- Hymn [chem] - Anthem

• Read now the examples with letters mb :

- Climb [climb] - Climb
- Thumb [θʌm] [SSam] - Thumb

• ng – [ŋ]

The letter combination ng at the end of a word is read as [ŋ] , but this sound is not pronounced like [n], / ŋ / is a nasal sound made in the same position as / k/ And / g/, so the tongue rises from behind, touching the soft palate, and the noise is released through the nose. Try again!

Example:

- Thing [θɪŋ] [SSin] - Thing
- King [kin] - King

• Letter combination nk reads like a sound combination [ŋk], For example:

- Ink [ɪŋk] [ink] - Ink

• wr – [r] [(р)]

Letter W at the beginning of a word before the letter R unreadable:

- Wr ite [right] - Write
- Wr ap [rap] - Wrap up

— Rh etoric [ˈretərɪk] – Rhetoric
— Rhino [ˈraɪnəʊ] – Rhinoceros

Letter combination table in English

Having carefully studied the combination English letters, you can save the table for yourself and use it as a mini-help.

Reading English letter combinations of vowels and consonants

• igh - [ay]

Letter combination igh reads like [ouch] for example, in these words:

- Light t [light] - Light
- Righ t [(r)ayt] - Faithful
- Nigh t [night] - Night

• Wor When pronouncing, you must ensure that [w] did not soften and did not replace the sound with Russian [O] or [e].

Listen to how to pronounce it correctly

— Wor k — Work

• Wa The letter combination wa is read as [oo], if it is followed by either a final consonant (except r), or combinations of consonants:

- Wa nt [want] - Want
- Wash [wash] - Wash

• qu –

- Qu een [queen] - Queen
- Qu ick [quick] - Quick

• ew - [yu]

Letter combination with vowel and consonant ew in most words it is read as a sound combination .

- New [new] - New
- View [view] - Opinion, look

Consonant combinations in English important topic, because if you want to be able to read in English, you definitely need to know how to read a word that has two letters, but is read as one.

In the next topic we will look at vowel letter combinations or digraphs. In the meantime, we suggest downloading a document with sentences that have consonant digraphs in English. Read them carefully several times. First, slowly, pronouncing each word as clearly and clearly as possible, pay attention to the pronunciation, if you don’t know how the word is read, look up the transcription in the dictionary, then after you have learned to pronounce the words, read them faster.

Combination of sounds in English with transcription

In this section we will look at important sound combinations in English.

First sound combination:

• [pl]– Before a stressed vowel it is pronounced together. This sound is pronounced very energetically, that the sound [l] [l] partially stunned:

- Pl ease [please] - Please
- Pl ane [plain] - Airplane

• [kl]– Pronounce this sound combination exactly the same as , before a stressed vowel the sound is pronounced together [l] partially stunned:

- Cl ean [wedge] - Clean

• – When pronouncing these sounds, it is necessary to maintain the quality of pronunciation.

—
—

• Sound combinations [t] [d] [n] [l] with sounds [θ] [ð] . Alveolar sounds [t] [d] [n] [l] before interdental ones they become either dental or interdental, as they lose alveolarity.

- At this [æt ðɪs]
— Read this

• Sound combinations [θr] .

In a combination of sound r with a preceding consonant, both sounds are almost pronounced the same:

— Br ight — Bright

• In sound combinations the tip of the tongue is not on the alveoli, but behind them.

—Tr y
—Dr y

Exercises on letter combinations in English

Skim the table and then take the English digraphs test.

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet, which represent 24 consonants, 12 vowels and 8 diphthongs.
Reading vowels depends on which syllable the vowels are in. In English, it is customary to distinguish 4 types of syllables:

1. An open syllable ends with a vowel. In English, a syllable followed by a consonant + an unpronounceable final “e” is conventionally considered an open syllable.
The vowels in this syllable are pronounced the same way as they are called in the alphabet.

2. A closed syllable ends with a consonant. In this type of syllable, vowels convey short sounds.

3. The third type of syllable is a syllable in which a vowel is followed by the letter "r" (at the end of the syllable) or "r" + consonant. In this syllable, all vowels convey long sounds.

4. The fourth type of syllable is a syllable in which the vowel is followed by the combination "r" + vowel. In this syllable, all vowels convey long and complex sounds.

Reading vowels in four syllable types

Table of basic rules for reading vowels and consonants

English letters	Transmitted sound	In which cases	Examples	Exceptions
A,a		in an open syllable	place, take, make, same, state	have [æ], many [e]
		in combinations ay, ai	pay, way, play, day, main	said [e]
	[æ]	V closed syllable	that, lamp
		before r + consonant s + consonant	park, garden, fast, task	mass [æ]
	[εə]	before r + vowel	various, care	are
	[כּ]	after w,qu in a closed syllable	was
	[כּ:]	after w,qu in a closed syllable before r	war, quarter
		before l + consonant	call, wall, also, fall, ball
		in combination with u	autumn
		before w	law, saw
E,e		in an open syllable	be, Pete
		in combinations ee, ea	steel, stree, see, sea, mean
		in an open syllable	belt, set	English[i]
		in combinations ea +d	already, head, bread
	[ə:]	in combinations er, ear + consonant	heard, term, her
		in combinations ee+r, ea+r	hear, appear
		before w	knew, newspaper, few
		before w with preceding r	grew, drew
I, i		in an open syllable	five, pine	give, live [i]
		before ld, nd, gh	kind, mild, light
	[i]	in a closed syllable	did
		combined ie followed by a consonant	field	friend[e]
	[ə]	before r or r + consonant	sir, first
	["aiə]	before r + vowel	fire, tired
O, o		in an open syllable	note, go	done, come [٨]
		before the combination ld	old, cold
		in combinations oa, ow	road, low
	[ə]	in combinations or after w	word, world
	[כּ]	in a closed syllable	stop, not
	[כּ:]	before r	port, short
		in combinations oo	food, too	book, look [u]
		in combinations ou, ow	compound, town, down
	[כּi]	in combinations oi, oy	oil, enjoy
	["auə]	in combinations ow before er	power
		in combinations oo+r	poor	door, floor [כּ:]
U, u		in an open syllable	tube, produce, music
	[٨]	in a closed syllable	cut, cup, bus	put, push, pull, full [u]
		in an open syllable after l, r, j	lunar, rule, June
	[ə:]	before r + consonant	burn, turn
		before r + vowel	pure, cure
Y, y		in an open syllable	type, try
	[i]	in closed syllables and at the end of polysyllabic words	symbol, family
	[j]	at the beginning of a word and before a vowel	yet, year, beyond
C,c	[s]	before i, e, y	capacity, practice, cell, bicycle
	[k]	before all other vowels and consonants	come, exact, direction
		in combinations ch, tch	charge, watch	chemistry [k] technique [k] machine [∫]
	[∫]	before combinations ial, ient	special, efficient
S, s	[s]	at the beginning of words, in the middle of words with voiceless consonants and at the end of words after voiceless consonants	send, salt, say, system, facts, books
	[z]	after vowels, between vowels, after voiced consonants	as, position, days, supplies, beds
	[∫]	in combinations sh, ssion, ssure	shop, transmission, pressure
	[z]	before ure	measure, treasure
T,t	[ð]	in combination th 1) at the beginning of function words 2) between vowels	the, then, mother
	[θ]	in combination th at the beginning and end of significant words	thick, thin, seventh
P,p	[f]	in pH combinations	philosophy, photo
G, g		before i, e, y	age, engineer, gymnastics	give [g], get [g]
	[g]	before consonants, before vowels, except i, e, y at the end of words	great, go, big, dog
	[ŋ]	combined ng	bring, wrong, strong

"Mute" (unpronounceable) consonants

"Mute Letter"	In what letter combinations	Examples
b g n g k l w	bt gn whe, whi igh kn might alk who wr	doubt design, sign when, while height, weight, fight knowledge, knife should, could, would walk whos, whole write, wrong

Notes:
1. The letter u conveys the same sounds as the letter i, but is rarely found in the middle of a word.
2. The above rules apply only to stressed syllables. In an unstressed position, vowels are reduced to the sounds [ə] and [i].
For example: arrive [ə"raiv], return, illumination, difficult ["difikəlt].

Reading rules in English: table

The rules of reading in English are, rather, not even rules, but generalized recommendations that are not particularly accurate. Not only that, say, the letter “o” in different combinations and types of syllables can be read as nine different ways, there are also exceptions. For example, in the words food, too it is read as , and in the words good, look - as [u]. There is no pattern here, you just need to remember this.

If you look in different books, it turns out that the rules of reading, and indeed phonetics in general, can be told differently by different authors with varying degrees of immersion in detail. I think that there is no point in delving into the jungle of phonetic science (you can dive into it ad infinitum), and the easiest way is to take as a basis the most simplified version of the reading rules, that isreading rules in English for children.

For this article I took as a basis the rules given in the textbook"English language. Grades 1 - 4 in diagrams and tables" N. Vakulenko . Believe me, this is more than enough for both children and adults!

What is an open and closed syllable?

In English, there are open and closed syllables; it also matters whether it ends with the letter “r” and whether it is stressed.

A syllable is called open if:

• the syllable ends with a vowel and is the last in the word,
• a vowel is followed by another vowel,
• a vowel is followed by a consonant, and followed by one or more vowels.

A syllable is closed if:

• it is the last in the word, and ends with a consonant,
• A vowel is followed by two or more consonants.

Reading rules
Reading the letter "A"
A - in an open syllable	name, face, cake
A [æ] - in a closed syllable	hat, cat, man
A - in a closed syllable on r	far, car, park
A [εə] - at the end of the word vowel + re	dare, care, stare
A [ɔ:] - combinations all, au	all, wall, fall, autumn
Reading the letter "O"
O [əu] - in an open syllable	no, go, home
O [ɒ] - in a closed stressed syllable	not, box, hot
O [ɜ:] - in some words with “wor”	world, word
O [ɔ:] - in a closed syllable with r	form, fork, horse, door, floor
O - in combination “oo”	too, food
O [u] - in combination “oo”	book, look, good
O - in combination “ow”	town, down
O [ɔɪ] - in combination “oy”	toy, boy, enjoy
O [ʊə] - in combination “oo”	poor
Reading the letter "U"
U, - in an open syllable	pupil, blue, student
U [ʌ] - in a closed syllable	nut, bus, cup
U [u] - in a closed syllable	put, full
U [ɜ:] - in combination “ur”	turn, hurt, burn
Reading the letter "E"
E - in an open syllable, combination “ee”, “ea”	he, she, see, street, meat, sea
E [e] - in a closed syllable, combination “ea”	hen, ten, bed, head, bread
E [ɜ:] - in combinations “er”, “ear”	her, heard
E [ɪə] - in combinations of “ear”	hear, near
Reading the letter "I"
i - in an open syllable	five, line, night, light
i [ɪ] - in a closed syllable	his, it, pig
i [ɜ:] - in combination “ir”	first, girl, bird
i - in combination “ire”	fire, tired
Reading the letter "Y"
Y - at the end of a word	try, my, cry
Y [ɪ] - at the end of a word	family, happy, lucky
Y [j] - at the beginning or middle of a word	yes, year, yellow
Reading the letter "C"
C [s] - before i, e, y	pencil, bicycle
C [k] - except for combinations ch, tch and not before i, e, y	cat, come
C - in combinations ch, tch	chair, change, match, catch
Reading the letter "S"
S [s] - except: at the end of words after ch. and voiced acc.	say, books, six
S [z] - at the end of words after ch. and voiced acc.	days, beds
S [ʃ] - in combination sh	shop, ship
Reading the letter "T"
T [t] - except combinations th	ten, teacher, today
T [ð] - in combination th	then, mother, there
T [θ] - in combination th	thin, sixth, thick
Reading the letter "P"
P [p] - except for the combination ph	pen, penalty, powder
P [f] - in combination ph	photo
Reading the letter "G"
G [g] - except for combinations ng, not before e, i, y	go, big, dog
G - before e, i, y	age, engineer
G [ŋ] - in combination ng at the end of a word	sing, bring, king
G [ŋg] - in combination ng in the middle of a word	strongest

The most important reading rules

The table above looks very busy, even intimidating. From this we can highlight several of the most important rules, which have almost no exceptions.

Basic rules for reading consonants

• The combination ph is read as [f]: photo, Morpheus.
• The combination th is read as [ð] or [θ]: think there. These sounds do not exist in the Russian language; their pronunciation requires some practice. Do not confuse them with the sounds [s], [z].
• The combination ng at the end of a word is read as [ŋ] - this is a nasal (that is, pronounced as if in the nose) version of the sound [n]. A common mistake is to read it as . There is no “g” in this sound. Examples: strong, King Kong, wrong.
• The combination sh is read as [ʃ]: ship, show, shop.
• The letter “c” before i, e, y is read as [s]: celebrity, cent, pencil.
• The letter “g” before i, e, y is read as: age, magic, gym.
• The combination ch is read as: match, catch.

Basic rules for reading vowels

• In an open stressed syllable, vowels are usually read as inalphabet : no, go, name, face, pupil, he, five. These can be monophthongs and diphthongs.
• In a closed syllable, vowels are read as short monophthongs: nut, got, ten.

Reading rules do not need to be remembered by heart, you need to be able to use them.

Transcription and reading rules in English - two closely related concepts. Reading rules explain how letters and letter combinations are pronounced in different cases, and with the help of transcription we record and read speech sounds.

Reading rules can confuse a beginner. There are many of them, they are confusing, and there are more exceptions than the rules themselves. In fact, these rules are only so scary if you understand them deeply and try to learn them by heart, along with the exceptions. In reality, everything is much simpler: reading rules do not need to be remembered by heart.

While studying English, you will constantly be doing something, and soon you will learn to correlate letters and sounds without thinking, automatically. There is no need to worry about exceptions either. Usually the pronunciation, spelling and meaning of a word are remembered as one whole - you just know that such and such a word is pronounced this way.

Feature of English phonetics: we write “Manchester” - we read “Liverpool”

The phonetics of the English language has a noticeable feature: words are often read differently from how they are written, that is, from the spelling of a word it is not always possible to guess how it is pronounced. As linguists joke: “We write “Manchester”, but read “Liverpool.”

The following pattern can be traced in the history of many languages: phonetic structure becomes more complicated, and the letters and spelling remain the same or change with great delay. English is no exception. At the dawn of its development, words were read and pronounced more or less similar, but over time this discrepancy became greater and greater, the situation was aggravated by the diversity of dialects, and now we are in words though, thought And through read a combination of letters - ough completely different, although the words themselves differ by one letter.

Nobody is in a hurry to reform English spelling; there are many reasons for this. For example, the English language has long no longer had a single “control center”. Reforms initiated in London may be coolly received in Sydney and rejected in Washington. And in general, spelling reform is always a painful process that meets resistance among a significant part of native speakers. It's much easier to leave it as is.

What is transcription and why is it needed?

Transcription in English is the recording of speech sounds using special characters. She should not be afraid or avoided, because she is a very good assistant in learning the language, which will be great for saving time and helping to avoid mistakes. One glance at the transcription of an English word is enough for you to understand how it is read correctly.

When you memorize or write down a new word that comes across in the text, you definitely need to look at its transcription and/or listen to the pronunciation (for example, in), otherwise you may remember it incorrectly, and then they will not understand you.

Is it possible to write English words in Russian letters?

Sometimes on websites or even in books you can see “English transcription in Russian” or “pronunciation English words in Russian letters” – that is, writing English words in Russian letters. Like, why learn sophisticated icons if Can convey sounds in Russian letters? Then what it is forbidden. The phonetics of the Russian language differs from the English phonetics so much that the sound can only be conveyed very, very approximately. Some sounds English speech We simply don’t, and vice versa.

Transcription and pronunciation of all sounds of the English language separately (video)

With this interesting video table, you can listen to the sound of all sounds separately and see how they are recorded using transcription. Click on play and wait for the video to load completely, then click on the sound you want.

Please note that in the transcription, in addition to the symbols themselves denoting sounds, the following are used:

• Square brackets– traditionally, transcription is always written in [square brackets]. For example: [z].
• Vowel length icon– in English, vowels can be long or short, longitude is indicated by a colon after the vowel. For example: .
• Accent icon– if a word with more than one syllable is transcribed, the stress must be indicated with an apostrophe (comma at the top). It is placed before the stressed syllable. For example: – decision.

In total, there are 44 sounds in the English language, which, like in Russian, are divided into consonants and vowels. Among them there are sounds similar to Russian, for example: [b] - [b], [n] - [n], and sounds that have no analogues in the Russian language: [ ð ], [θ ].

In English phonetics there are no such concepts as softness/hardness of consonants, but there is longitude of vowels (not characteristic of the Russian language) - vowels can be short [a] and long. It should also be noted that vowel sounds in English can be:

• single (monophthongs): [ i: ], [ e ],
• consisting of two sounds (diphtogni): [ ai ], [ ɔi ],
• consisting of three sounds (triphthongs): [ aiə ].

Diphthongs and triphthongs are read and perceived as solid sounds.

Table of English sounds with examples and cards

Having studied how English sounds are pronounced individually, be sure to listen to how they are read whole words. It is often easier for students to understand and hear the pronunciation English sounds when they sound as part of a word, and not separately.

In the tables below, all sounds are given with example words. Using electronic cards you can listen to the pronunciation.

Consonants in English
[ f] fox	[ d] date	[ v] vase	[ k]cat
[ θ ] think	[ g] go	[ ð ] father	[ tʃ] change
[ s] say	[ dʒ] age	[ z] zoo	[ m] mom
[ ʃ ] ship	[ n] nose	[ ʒ ] pleasure	[ ŋ ] sing
[ h]hound	[ l] lazy	[ p] pen	[ r] red
[ b] bro	[ j] yes	[ t] today	[ w] wine

Vowel sounds in English
[ i:] he, she	[ ei] name	[ i] his, it	[ ai] line
[ e]ten	[ au] town	[ æ ] hat	[ ɔi] toy
[ a:] car	[ ou] go home	[ ɔ ] not	[ iə] here
[ ʌ ] nut	[ ɛə ] dare	[ u] good	[ uə] poor
[ u:] food	[ juə]Europe	[ ju:] tune	[ aiə] fire
[ ɜ: ] turn	[ auə] our	[ ə ] paper	[ ɔ: ] all

How to learn to pronounce English sounds?

There are two approaches:

1. Theoretical- usually in textbooks detailed description how to press your tongue against the roof of your mouth to form a certain sound. With an illustration showing a cross-section of a human head. The method is scientifically correct, but it is difficult to use on your own: not everyone will understand what it means to “slide the upper teeth along the lower lip” and will be able to perform this action.
2. Practical– listen, watch and repeat. I think it's much easier this way. You simply repeat after the announcer, trying to imitate the sound as accurately as possible. Pay attention to articulation, try to repeat all movements of the lips and tongue. Ideally, of course, someone should supervise, but you can simply record yourself on a webcam and watch from the outside.

If you want to repeat after the speaker, imitating his speech, I recommend using the materials on Puzzle English, namely the “Video Puzzles” exercises, which are aimed at developing listening comprehension. In video puzzles, you can slow down your speech and, as in Lingvaleo, watch the translation of words by clicking on them directly in the subtitles.

In video puzzles, you first need to watch a video and then assemble sentences from words.

Detailed review of this service:

In addition, many kind people have made many videos for practical training that are available on YouTube. For example, these two videos examine in detail the sounds of English speech in the American and British versions:

British pronunciation

American pronunciation

When you start learning English, you shouldn’t strive to achieve “perfect” pronunciation. Firstly, there are a lot of varieties of pronunciation (the “generalized” British and American versions are presented above), and secondly, even native speakers who speak professionally (for example, actors) often take lessons from special trainers in order to master the features of or another version of pronunciation - practicing speech is not an easy task.

Just try to speak in a way that 1) is understandable and 2) doesn’t hurt your ears too much.

Reading rules in English: table and cards

Reading rules in English are, rather, not even rules, but generalized recommendations that are not particularly accurate. Not only can, say, the letter “o” in different combinations and syllable types be read in nine different ways, but there are also exceptions. For example, in the words food, too it is read as , and in the words good, look – as [u]. There is no pattern here, you just need to remember this.

If you look in different books, it turns out that the rules of reading, and indeed phonetics in general, can be told differently by different authors with varying degrees of immersion in detail. I think that there is no point in delving into the jungle of phonetic science (you can dive into it ad infinitum), and the easiest way is to take as a basis the most simplified version of the reading rules, that is reading rules in English for children.

For this article, I took as a basis the rules given in the textbook “English. Grades 1 – 4 in diagrams and tables” N. Vakulenko. Believe me, this is more than enough for both children and adults!

What is an open and closed syllable?

In English, there are open and closed syllables; it also matters whether it ends with the letter “r” and whether it is stressed.

A syllable is called open if:

• the syllable ends with a vowel and is the last in the word,
• a vowel is followed by another vowel,
• a vowel is followed by a consonant, and followed by one or more vowels.

A syllable is closed if:

• it is the last in the word, and ends with a consonant,
• A vowel is followed by two or more consonants.

In these cards and the table below you can see how different letters are pronounced in different combinations and syllable types.

Reading rules
Reading the letter “A”
A – in an open syllable	name, face, cake
A [æ] – in a closed syllable	hat, cat, man
A – in a closed syllable on r	far, car, park
A [εə] – at the end of the word vowel + re	dare, care, stare
A [ɔ:] – combinations all, au	all, wall, fall, autumn
Reading the letter “O”
O [əu] – in an open syllable	no, go, home
O [ɒ] – in a closed stressed syllable	not, box, hot
O [ɜ:] – in some words with “wor”	world, word
O [ɔ:] – in a closed syllable with r	form, fork, horse, door, floor
O – in combination “oo”	too, food
O [u] – in combination “oo”	book, look, good
O – in combination “ow”	town, down
O [ɔɪ] – in combination “oy”	toy, boy, enjoy
O [ʊə] – in combination “oo”	poor
Reading the letter “U”
U, – in an open syllable	pupil, blue, student
U [ʌ] – in a closed syllable	nut, bus, cup
U [u] – in a closed syllable	put, full
U [ɜ:] – in combination “ur”	turn, hurt, burn
Reading the letter “E”
E – in an open syllable, combination “ee”, “ea”	he, she, see, street, meat, sea
E [e] – in a closed syllable, combination “ea”	hen, ten, bed, head, bread
E [ɜ:] – in combinations “er”, “ear”	her, heard
E [ɪə] – in combinations of “ear”	hear, near
Reading the letter “I”
i – in an open syllable	five, line, night, light
i [ɪ] – in a closed syllable	his, it, pig
i [ɜ:] – in combination “ir”	first, girl, bird
i – in combination “ire”	fire, tired
Reading the letter “Y”
Y – at the end of a word	try, my, cry
Y [ɪ] – at the end of a word	family, happy, lucky
Y [j] – at the beginning or middle of a word	yes, year, yellow
Reading the letter “C”
C [s] – before i, e, y	pencil, bicycle
C [k] – except for combinations ch, tch and not before i, e, y	cat, come
C – in combinations ch, tch	chair, change, match, catch
Reading the letter “S”
S [s] – except: at the end of words after ch. and voiced acc.	say, books, six
S [z] – at the end of words after ch. and voiced acc.	days, beds
S [ʃ] – in combination sh	shop, ship
Reading the letter “T”
T [t] – except combinations th	ten, teacher, today
T [ð] – in combination th	then, mother, there
T [θ] – in combination th	thin, sixth, thick
Reading the letter “P”
P [p] – except for the combination ph	pen, penalty, powder
P [f] – in combination ph	photo
Reading the letter “G”
G [g] – except for combinations ng, not before e, i, y	go, big, dog
G – before e, i, y	age, engineer
G [ŋ] – in combination ng at the end of a word	sing, bring, king
G [ŋg] – in combination ng in the middle of a word	strongest

The most important reading rules

The table above looks very busy, even intimidating. From it we can highlight several of the most important rules, which have almost no exceptions.

Basic rules for reading consonants

• The combination ph is read as [f]: photo, Morpheus.
• The combination th is read as [ð] or [θ]: think there. These sounds do not exist in the Russian language; their pronunciation requires some practice. Do not confuse them with the sounds [s], [z].
• The combination ng at the end of a word is read as [ŋ] - this is a nasal (that is, pronounced as if in the nose) version of the sound [n]. A common mistake is to read it as . There is no “g” in this sound. Examples: strong, King Kong, wrong.
• The combination sh is read as [ʃ]: ship, show, shop.
• The letter “c” before i, e, y is read as [s]: celebrity, cent, pencil.
• The letter “g” before i, e, y is read as: age, magic, gym.
• The combination ch is read as: match, catch.

Basic rules for reading vowels

• In an open stressed syllable, vowels are usually read as in: no, go, name, face, pupil, he, five. These can be monophthongs and diphthongs.
• In a closed syllable, vowels are read as short monophthongs: nut, got, ten.

How to remember reading rules?

Most people who are fluent in English as a foreign language will not be able to immediately name even a few basic reading rules. Rules readings do not need to be memorized, you need to be able to use them. But is it possible to use what you don’t know? As much as possible! Thanks to frequent practice, knowledge turns into skills and actions begin to be performed automatically, unconsciously.

In order for the reading rules to quickly reach the automatic stage, I recommend:

• Study the rules themselves - read, comprehend, speak examples out loud.
• Practicing reading aloud will help develop pronunciation skills, and at the same time, the rules of reading will be reinforced. Take the text with audio, video with subtitles so that you have something to compare it with.
• Do small written works – writing practice is good for development vocabulary, consolidating grammar knowledge and, of course, improving spelling.