SOUNDS OF THE LETTERS
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a (short) as in “cup” a (long) as in “father” ae as in “fine” au as in “house” b as in English (bs and bt are pronounced “ps” and “pt”) c as in “cat” (not “chair” or “ceiling”) ch like English “k”, with a sharper expulsion of breath d as in English e (short) as in “met” e (long) as in “mate” ei as in “say” eu two sounds run together “e-oo” f as in English g as in “got” (“gn” at the beginning of a word is pronounced “n”, and in the middle of a word “ngn”) h as in English i (short) as in “lip” i (long) as in “keep” i (consonant: sometimes written as a “j”) like English “y” l as in English m as in English at the beginning or in the middle of words; a final “m” should be pronounced with the lips open, as a nasalisation of the preceding vowel. n as in English ng as in “anger” (not “hangar”) o (short) as in “not” o (long) as in “note” (as pronounced by Scots and Welsh) oe as in “oil” p as in English ph as in “p”, with a sharper expulsion of breath qu as in “quit” r always trilled with the tip of the tongue s as in “gas” (not “has”) t as in English (and even closer to French “t”) th as in “t”, with a sharper expulsion of breath u (short) as in “pull” u (long) as in “pool” v (sometimes written as a “u”) like English “w” x as in English y (short) as in French “tu” y (long) as in French “sur” z as in English |