Today, the role of studying foreign languages, including English, is becoming increasingly significant. His knowledge is required not only in travels, conversations with foreigners, but also in the everyday life of the Russian hinterland. Often this is a necessary condition when working with a computer, and for many, knowledge of the English language is a rather significant point in the resume. That is why they are starting to study it at any age and with great interest. However, before diving into a complex system of tenses, articles and various grammatical schemes, it is worth studying the alphabet of English language.

What is an alphabet?

Some linguists claim that the alphabet is a holistic system, a reflection of the picture of the world and the way of thinking of an individual people. Speakers of the language themselves consider the alphabet the basis of the whole language. The British, for example, say: “It’s as easy as ABC” (“It's just like an alphabet”), which means they perceive their system of written characters as simple and accessible to everyone. The alphabet is a form of writing in which individual characters - letters - correspond to certain sounds, and in some languages \u200b\u200bto syllables.

The letters of the English alphabet are borrowed from the Latin language. There are 26 of them. However, the number of letters in english alphabet   not always been so. At the beginning of the XI century, the alphabet was mentioned, consisting of 23 Latin letters, supplemented with four letters based on the Anglo-Saxon runes. In the process of language development, the writing system changed, and with it the composition of the alphabet. Today it consists of 6 vowels and 20 consonants.

The letters A, E, I, O, U, Y are used to transmit vowels in a letter, and therefore the vowels of the English alphabet are called. In written speech, they can be used both independently and as part of digraphs - combinations of letters that transmit one sound.

The consonants of the English alphabet B, C, D, F, G, H, J, K, L, M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Z are designed to transmit consonants in a letter and , as well as vowels, can be part of digraphs.

Alphabetical order of letters

Of great importance in the study of the alphabet is the strict order of the letters. The principle of compiling dictionaries and reference books is built on an alphabetical basis. To order english letters easier to remember, a song was invented in which instead of words the names of letters are given.

In addition, the table will help to remember the English alphabet:

Letter	Title	Pronunciation	Transcription	Russian letter name record
a	a	🔊 Play a		hey
b	bee	🔊 Play b		bi
c	cee	🔊 Listen c		si
d	dee	🔊 Play d		di
e	e	🔊 Listen e		and
f	ef	🔊 Play f		ef
g	gee	🔊 Play g		ji
h	aitch	🔊 Play h		h.H.
i	i	🔊 Listen i		ah
j	jay	🔊 Play j		jay
k	kay	🔊 Play k		kay
l	el	🔊 Listen l		e
m	em	🔊 Play m		em
n	enn	🔊 Listen n		en
o	o	🔊 Listen o		oU
p	pee	🔊 Listen p		pi
q	cue	🔊 Listen to q		kew
r	ar	🔊 Listen r		a, ar
s	ess	🔊 Listen s		es
t	tee	🔊 Listen t		tee
u	u	🔊 Listen u		yu
v	vee	🔊 Listen v		in and
w	double-u	🔊 Play w	[`dʌbl` ju:]	double u
x	ex	🔊 Listen x		the ex
y	wy	🔊 Play y		wye
z	zed, zee	🔊 Play z	,	zee

The correct pronunciation of the names of the letters of the English alphabet can be heard in the video below. It is important to note that the pronunciation of the letters and their names are significantly different, so in order not to be mistaken in reading this or that letter in the text, you can use transcription.

In everyday life, the names of letters are practically not used. The exceptions are abbreviations and some simple words, eg:

- the word OK ("okay, okay") is usually spelled - okay;

- MC (short for master of ceremonies - entertainer) is pronounced emcee;

- DJ (short for disc jockey - disc jockey) is pronounced deejay.

Due to the similarities in the pronunciation of some letters (such as p and b, m and n), confusion often arises, especially when it comes to telephone calls or radio communications. Therefore, the police, pilots, and some other services use spoken alphabet   (spelling alphabet). In it, each letter corresponds to a certain word, which allows one to distinguish spoken letters by ear. For example, the letter m is named Mike, and n is November.

The numerical value of letters

In some ancient languages, in addition to sound filling, letters were also assigned a numerical value. There are several alphanumeric systems based on various languages.   Echoes of this principle today are preserved in the school system of assessment in the United States, where the letters are the letters of the English alphabet. Instead of the usual “fives,” American schoolchildren get “A,” instead of “fours,” they get “B,” and so on in descending order.

Outside the alphabet

Often in writing, English-speaking peoples use additional characters that are not included in the alphabet, but are nevertheless read. These signs include:

— diacritical marks   (mainly in borrowed words, which over time lose them and adapt to the main set of letters in the alphabet);

— ampersand   - better known as the & sign - is used to mean the union and (and);

— apostrophe   - It is indicated as a comma above the letter and is used to reduce words. For example: it’s instead of it is. Some groups of words (it’s and its, we’re and were, sister’s and sisters) in the letter can only be distinguished.

Consider the vowels of the English language, their spelling and pronunciation:

Transcription	Russian analogue	English word
	Corresponds to a long sound a	Car
[æ]	Middle sound between a and e	And
	Reminds a lingering sound and	She
[i]	Reminds a brief sound and	Bullet
[e]	Reminds sound e	Bet
[ɔ]	Short sound about	Pot
[ɔ:]	Reminds a lingering sound of	Corn
[ə:]	The middle sound between o and e, resembles e -	Her
[ə]	A fuzzy, unstressed sound similar to e	Pole
[ʌ]	Reminds sound a	Funny
[h]	Reminds sound yo	Girl
[u]	Short sound u	Cook
	Reminds a lingering sound in	Zoo
	Reminds sound ah	Night
	Reminds sound hey	Male
[ɔi]	Reminds sound oh	Toy
	Reminds sound ay	How
[əu]	Reminds sound oh	So
	Reminds sound IE	Wire
	Reminds sound ue	Cow
[ɛə]	Remotely resembles the sound of ea	Dare

As you can see, in English there is such a thing as longitude of sound. A long sound is indicated by two vertically right dots (for example: u :). Attention should be paid to this, since incorrect pronunciation can lead to misunderstanding. For example: hit (short) - hit, heat (long) - heat.

Options for reading the stressed vowel in English.

In English, the same letter can be read in different ways. To understand why pronunciation depends, consider four types of syllables that affect pronunciation.

The first type of syllable is open, where

• after vowel no more lettersfor example: be;
• there is another vowel, for example: foe;
• consonant, followed by another vowel, or dumb [ә], for example: lake; bike; global ["glәub (ә) l].

The second type is “closed syllable”, where after the vowel comes a consonant or several consonants that seem to close the vowel, and it is read differently than in the alphabet, for example: bus; set; bad

The third type is when the letter “r” follows the vowel, this combination turns into one sound.

• The combination of “a” + “r”, that is, “ar” gives the final sound [a:], for example: dark, star
• The combination of “o” + “r”, that is, “or” results in the sound [ɔ:], for example: more
• The combinations “e” + “r”, “i” + “r” or “u” + “r”, that is, “er”, “ir” or “ur” will result in the sound [ɜ:] ”, for example: girl

  You may notice that the third type of syllable basically gives an elongated sound.

The fourth type of syllable is the same combination as in the third type of syllable, only plus the letter “e”

• “Ar” + “e” \u003d “are”, the result is, for example: bare, care.
• “Er” + “e” \u003d “ere”, the result is, for example: here.
• “Ir” + “e” \u003d “ire”, the result is, for example: fire [‘faiә], desire.
• “Ur” + “e” \u003d “ure”, the result is, for example: pure, mature.

Learning any foreign language   starts with learning the alphabet. Without knowing the letters, how they are read and pronounced, it is impossible to compose a syllable, and therefore a word. There are 26 letters in the English alphabet: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V , W, X, Y, Z.

So, how many letters in the English language we learned, but without transcription we can not make a single sound.

List of letters with transcription and pronunciation

Where there is a colon “:” it means a long sound. For example, in the word car - car, this long drawn-out sound is very audible.

Vowels and consonants of the alphabet

There are only 5 vowels, 21 consonants.

Knowing the alphabet will not only help in reading, very often, when two people do not understand each other in an English-speaking country, one of them may ask the other to spell their first name and surname. In Russian, this is known as "spelling" from the English verb to spell. That is, spell me.

Letters in words

What! Now you know how many letters in the alphabet and how they are written!

Starter Alphabet Tools

• Take the English-Russian dictionary and memorize letters.
• For children there are pictures with letters. The pictures depict various objects and animals starting with different letters. This method is good for adults. Since visual memory is developed in most of the population of our planet.
• Find an audio lesson on the pronunciation of all letters and in what words, how they are pronounced.
• Find a fun English song with alphabet. This method is suitable for fixing the sound already when you remember all the letters.

As you can see, there are a lot of ways to remember and how letters are pronounced correctly. If you love English, then try all the ways, believe it will be exciting, and most importantly - effective!

Unlike Russian, English consonants have the following features:
1. The Russian language has hard and soft consonants. The softening of the consonant is reflected in the meaning of the word. For instance:
glad - a row, bow - a hatch.   The consonants are not relented.
2. In Russian, consonants are stunned if they are facing other deaf consonants, and especially at the end of words.
Compare:

koro bpoints [B] - short bka [P]
dash wellnickname [W] - dash well   [W]

In Russian, the stunning of consonants does not affect the meaning of the word.
The final voiced consonants are never stunned, since stunning them leads to a distortion of the meaning of the word.
Most english   consonant sounds although it differs from the corresponding sounds of Russian languagebut not enough to dwell on them in detail. Some English consonants differ from Russians in articulation.
When pronouncing [d], [t], [n], [l] the tip of the tongue is raised and touches the alveoli (Fig. Speech organs), while when pronouncing the corresponding Russian sounds the tip language   touches the inner surface of the upper teeth.
English [r], unlike Russian [P], is pronounced without any vibration. When pronouncing English [r], the language is very tense, the tip of the tongue is raised high, but neither the palate nor the alveoli touch. The vocal cords vibrate (Fig. Speech organs).
If you pronounce Russian words no, volume, risk, gender,   observing the specified articulation and sonority of the final voiced consonants, these words will receive a special shade characteristic english language, and will english words: net   network, Tom   Tom, risk   risk, rod   kernel.

The sound [h] is pronounced as a faint, muffled sound, similar to a slight exhalation. The back of the tongue should not rise to the soft palate, as is the case when pronouncing Russian [X].
Sounds that do not have a correspondence in the Russian language include the sound [w], which is transmitted by the letter w and the letter u in the combination qu.
When pronouncing the sound [w], the lips are very tense, strongly rounded and slightly extended forward, forming a small hole for the passage of air. The back of the tongue thus rises to the soft palate. This structure of the speech apparatus is similar to the position for pronouncing the Russian non-syllable y, as in the word fauna. When pronouncing [w] from this position, one must immediately switch to the position for pronouncing the next vowel. The sound [w] is found in english language   just before vowels.

Some English consonants convey complex sounds:

j - The sound reminds pronounced continuous consonants j in the words dzhigit, cardigan.
x - The sound resembles pronounced cohesive cop in the words boxing, coke.

Some English consonants, depending on their position in the word, transmit various sounds;

c - [k] or [s]
g - [g] or
s - [s] or [z]
x - or

Letter q is always written with the letter u, and this letter combination is read.
Letter w before consonants is not readable.

2. VOICE SOUNDS

a) Open and closed vowels

Pronouncing vowel sounds, we do not create any barrier to exhaled air, and depending on the sound we make, we only change the shape of the oral cavity with the help of mobile speech organs: tongue, lips, lower jaw and soft palate. The oral cavity may vary with respect to the distance between the surface of the tongue and the hard palate. Depending on this distance, vowel sounds in both Russian and English are divided into open and closed.
Lowering the lower jaw with a flat tongue, we increase the distance between the palate and tongue and get an open sound.
Raising the middle part of the tongue towards the palate, we narrow the distance for the passage of a jet of air and get a closed sound.

Compare the pronunciation of Russian sounds [A] and [I]. [A] - the sound is open, when pronouncing it, the mouth is wide open, and a stream of air passes freely between the tongue and the palate. [And] - the sound is closed, when you pronounce it, the tongue is raised, and the passage for a stream of air is narrowed.

If we compare the three sounds: [A], [E], [I], we notice that [E] is a more open sound compared to [I], but not as open as [A].

b) Long and short vowel sounds

English vowels are divided into long and short. The shortness or longitude of vowels in the Russian language does not affect the meaning of the word, whereas in English it is very important: depending on the longitude or shortness of the vowel, the meaning of the word changes.
In phonetic transcription, the vowel longitude is indicated by [:].

c) Diphthongs

In English, unlike Russian, there are sounds called diphthongs.
A diphthong is a combination of two vowels in which the first element imperceptibly goes into the second. In English diphthongs, the emphasis falls on the first element.

3. LETTERS transmitting vowels

The name of the English vowels does not coincide with their names in the Latin alphabet, which the English script uses.
Moreover, in English, the name of a vowel does not always determine the sound transmitted by it in a word.
Reading a vowel depends on the stress and position of the vowel among other letters, while in different combinations the vowel can transmit sounds that are qualitatively different from each other.
Thus, in English, the same sound can be represented by different letters and letter combinations, and, on the other hand, the same letter can transmit different sounds.
This phenomenon is explained by the development of history *.
In modern English speech there are 21 vowels. There are only 6 vowels of the alphabet to express these sounds.

In the press	The name of the letters given in phonetic transcription	Pronunciation explanation
A a		The diphthong resembles a combination of her in the Russian word whose, only more closed.
E e		The middle back of the tongue is raised to the hard palate, forming a narrow gap. The sound resembles the sound of the end of AI in Russian words: Russia, the elements.
I, i		The diphthong resembles a Russian ay in the word gull.
O o		The diphthong resembles the sound of ou in Russian words sauce, clown.
U, u		The combination resembles the Russian shock in the words southern, Jura.
Y		[w]   see above

* During the XIV - XV centuries. major phonetic changes took place in the English language, which subsequently continued to develop. However, the introduction of printing in the XV century. It didn’t consolidate these changes in spelling, but reflected the spelling, which even for that time was conservative, corresponding to the pronunciation of an earlier era. The result of this provision was a large gap between spelling and pronunciation, which also influenced the fate of English spelling.

a) Reading vowels in an open and conditionally open syllable

  In open and conditionally open stressed syllables, vowels convey sounds that match their alphabetical name.
  The exception is the letter y, which reads the same way as the letter i.
  1 In the open syllable.
  An open syllable is a syllable ending in a vowel.

Letter	Reading	Examples
A a E e I, i O o U, u Y y		m eh eb e, w e I g o, n o, s o m yb y, tr ydr y, fl y, sk y

The vowel retains its alphabetical pronunciation if it is followed by the letter e, which in such cases cannot be read.

Letter	Reading	Examples
A a E e I, i O o U, u Y y		s ee fr ee, tr ee l ie, d ie, t ie fl oe, h oe h ue, d ue d ye, r ye

2. In a conditionally-open syllable.
A conditionally open syllable is a syllable in which a vowel is separated from the final e by one consonant. In such cases, e is not readable and is called "dumb." *

Letter	Reading	Examples
A a E e I, i O o U, u Y y		t ake, d ate l ake, l ate r ate fr ame w ave eve, P ete m ete m ine, l ike f ive, n ine, t ime dr ive w ide s ize gl obe, z one h ome r ole p ole, st one, sm oke, b one t ube, m ute st yle, t ype

* The letter e at the end of bisyllabic and polysyllabic words was read in Old English. It ceased to be read after the fourteenth century. Although the letter e was not readable, it continued to be written at the end of words, where the root vowel was long. Thus, the function of “silent e” was to indicate that the previous vowel has its own alphabetical pronunciation.

After r, l, j the letter u is read. Unlike Russian, the English sound is pronounced with very rounded, but slightly protruded lips. Tongue   pulled back, and the tip of the tongue is lowered:
r ule tr ue, bl ue, j une j ute

Note: Vowels convey sounds that match their alphabetic name when they are separated from the next vowel by two consonants, of which the second is the letter l:

able, r ifle, n oble, b ugle

READING EXERCISE

like - lake
mine - mane
wide - wade
time - tame
line - lane
idle - able
life, fine, table, mile, jute, rude
stove, make, made, note, broke, he
we, wake, wife, woke, quite, quote

Remember the following words

time time
open open, th, th
name name
I me (always capitalized)
home home, home
stone a rock
he he
mine mine
we we
table table
me me me
pupil student
my mine mine mine mine
wide wide
you you you
blue blue, blue, th, th
five five
fine   beautiful, th, th
nine nine

b) Reading vowels in two-syllable words

Being stressed in an open syllable, a vowel transmits a sound matching its alphabetical name. Vowels in an unstressed syllable are pronounced unclearly and resemble an unstressed vowel in Russian words cloud, sieve, lunch, father.   This unstressed obscure sound is depicted in international phonetic transcription by the symbol [ə].
  The accent mark ["] is placed before the stressed syllable.

Letter	Reading	Examples	Notes
A a E e I, i O o U, u	[ə ] [ ə ] [ ə ]	"Ada "paper "meter "driver "final "total "open "motor "sdudent	r at the end of the word, taken separately, is not read. If a vowel is followed by a letter in a syllable syllablelor letter n , then such unstressed vowels are not read at all

The combination of wr

Letter w before r at the beginning of the word is not read.

write   wrote

Compare:

ride - write

rode - wrote

c) Pronunciation of the particle of the infinitive to

The to particle, which is an indicator of the infinitive, is not stressed and pronounced as if the infinitive begins with a consonant, and how if the infinitive begins with a vowel.

Remember the following words

to be   to be
  to write write
  to take take
  student student
  to make do produce
  miner miner
  to lie to lie
  driver counselor
  to go go
  paper paper; newspaper
  to see see
  at home home
  to like to love
  to on, in, to (to the question where?)
  to open open
  to drive lead (tram)

d) Pronunciation of the union and

The union and [ənd] (and, a) does not bear the stress, and the vowel in this word is usually pronounced unclear. For instance:
to take and to make, Pete and jane

Go to:

The English alphabet is the basis for learning a language, which must be mastered in order to be able to move forward. Having become familiar with what letters are in the alphabet, it is necessary to proceed to the next stage of training - the study of vowels. It is known that in English there are only six vowels, which, when combined with consonants, allow you to form words.

Video training “English from scratch. Lesson 2. Vowels ”

English vowels

As mentioned above, in the English alphabet there are only 6 vowels, among which:

These six vowels convey 20 different vowel sounds.

Vowel Reading Rules

Reading the letter coincides with the sound when the letter is in the open syllable. For instance:

• a - name, man, small, America;
• e - me (in the closed syllable we get the sound [e] - end, at the end of polysyllabic words the ending is zero);
• i - time;
• o in a closed syllable it is read as “o”, and in an open syllable as [oh] - no;
• u in the open syllable it reads like “student”, and in the closed syllable it reads like Russian “a” - bus;
• y - in the open syllable it is read as [ah] (fly), at the end of words as [u] (city), and at the beginning of words [th] (yes).

Long vowels

It is customary to add two points to long vowels in transcription. Examples of long vowels:

• meet - [and:];
• car -;
• sports -.

The letter r after the vowels can affect the longitude of the sound.

English diphthongs

A diphthong is a combination of two sounds that occur in one word. According to the rules of the English language diphthongs are indivisible sounds.

In English, there are also triftona, which contain three vowels, but this is a more complex level. To begin with, it is advisable to learn the rules for reading vowels in closed and open syllables, and put them into practice.