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A consonant letter usually represents one consonant sound. Some consonant letters, for example, c, g, s, can represent two different consonant sounds.
(Одна согласная буква обычно передает один согласный звук. Некоторые согласные буквы, например, c, g, s, могут передавать два разных согласных звука.)
Letters | Sounds | Examples |
b | [b] | baby, best, buy, bring, blind, absent, about, number, labor, robber, tub |
c |
[s] [k] |
center, cellar, cigarette, cinema, agency, notice; cake, come, cucumber, clean, cry, scratch, act, panic |
d | [d] | day, dear, die, door, duty, admire, hidden, lady, kind, ride, ended |
f | [f] | fast, female, five, forest, fund, fry, flight, often, deaf, cuff |
g |
[g] [j] [zh] |
game, gap, get, go, gun, great, global, giggle, ago, begin, dog, egg; general, gin, giant, agent, suggest, Egypt, energy, huge, manage; mirage, garage, beige, rouge |
h |
[h] [-] |
hair, help, history, home, hotel, hunt, behind, inherit; hour, honor, honest, heir, vehicle, Sarah |
j | [j] | jam, Jane, jet, jelly, Jim, jingle, joke, John, June, just |
k | [k] | Kate, kind, kill, kilogram, sky, blanket, break, take, look |
l | [l] | late, let, live, alone, close, slim, please, old, nicely, table, file, all |
m | [m] | make, men, mind, mother, must, my, common, summer, name, form, team |
n | [n] | napkin, never, night, no, nuclear, funny, student, kindness, ton, sun |
p | [p] | paper, person, pick, pour, public, repair, apple, keep, top, crisp |
q (qu) |
[kw] [k] |
quality, question, quite, quote, equal, require; unique, technique, antique, grotesque |
r | [r] | rain, red, rise, brief, grow, scream, truck, arrive, hurry, turn, more, car |
s |
[s] [z] |
send, simple, song, system, street, lost, kiss, release; cause, present, reason, realism, advise, always, is, was |
t | [t] | task, tell, time, tone, tune, hotel, attentive, student, boat, rest |
v | [v] | vast, vein, vivid, voice, even, review, invest, give, move, active |
w | [w] | wall, war, way, west, wind, word, would, swear, swim, twenty, twist |
x |
[ks] [gz] [z] |
exercise, exchange, expect, ex-wife, axis, fix, relax; exam, exact, executive, exert, exist, exit, exult; Xenon, Xerox, xenophobia, xylophone |
z |
[z] [ts] |
zero, zoo, horizon, puzzle, crazy, organize, quiz, jazz; pizza, Mozart, Nazi, waltz |
Note 1: The letter Y
The letter Y can function as a vowel or as a consonant. As a vowel, Y has the vowel sounds [i], [ai]. As a consonant, Y has the consonant sound [y] (i.e., a semivowel sound), usually at the beginning of the word and only in the syllable before a vowel.
[i]: baby, hurry, lyrics, mystery;
[ai]: by, try, rely, nylon, type;
[y]: yacht, yard, year, yes, yet, yield, you, young, Yukon.
Примечание 1: Буква Y
Буква Y может функционировать как гласная или как согласная. Как гласная, Y имеет гласные звуки [i], [ai]. Как согласная, Y имеет согласный звук [y] (т.е. полугласный звук), обычно в начале слова и только в слоге перед гласной.
[i]: baby, hurry, lyrics, mystery;
[ai]: by, try, rely, nylon, type;
[y]: yacht, yard, year, yes, yet, yield, you, young, Yukon.
Note 2: The letter W
The letter W represents the vowel sound [u:] in the diphthongs [au] and [ou]: now, how, owl, brown; low, own, bowl.
Примечание 2: Буква W
Буква W передает гласный звук [u:] в дифтонгах [au] и [ou]: now, how, owl, brown; low, own, bowl.
After a voiceless consonant: [s] (После глухого согласного звука: [s])
After a voiced consonant or vowel: [z] (После звонкого согласного или гласного звука: [z])
After the letters s, z, x, ch, tch, ge, dge, sh: [iz] (После букв s, z, x, ch, tch, ge, dge, sh: [iz])
[s] | [z] | [iz] |
tapes [teips], streets [stri:ts], parks [pa:rks], chiefs [chi:fs], myths [miθs] | ribs [ribz], kids [kidz], legs [legz], leaves [li:vz], clothes [klouðz], girls, games, cars, boys, pies [paiz], cows [kauz], cities ['sitiz] | pieces ['pi:siz], roses ['rouziz], prizes ['praiziz], boxes ['boksiz], coaches ['kouchiz], bridges ['brijiz], dishes ['dishiz] |
(he) grips [grips], writes [raits], takes [teiks], sniffs [snifs] | (he) robs [robz], reads [ri:dz], digs [digz], saves [seivz], falls, plans, swims, offers, plays, cries, goes [gouz], copies ['kopiz] | (he) kisses ['kisiz], loses ['lu:ziz], relaxes, catches, judges, manages, flashes, washes, rouges |
Pip's [pips], Kate's [keits], Mike's [maiks], Jeff's [jefs], Seth's [seθs] | Abe's [eibz], Fred's [fredz], Meg's [megz], Olive's ['olivz], Ben's [benz], Molly's ['moliz], Anna's | Chris's ['krisiz], Tess's ['tesiz], Rose's ['rouziz], Liz's ['liziz], Rex's ['reksiz], George's ['jo:rjiz] |
After a voiceless consonant: [t] (После глухого согласного звука: [t])
After a voiced consonant or vowel: [d] (После звонкого согласного или гласного звука: [d])
After the letters t, d: [id] (После букв t, d: [id])
[t] | [d] | [id] |
stopped [stopt], liked [laikt], coughed [ko:ft], crossed [cro:st], released [ri'li:st], reached [ri:cht], washed [wosht] | robbed [robd], saved [seivd], seized [si:zd], called [ko:ld], planned, occurred, bathed [beiðd], managed, played, tried, studied | wanted ['wontid], hated ['heitid], counted ['kauntid], started, needed [ni:did], loaded ['loudid], folded, added |
Letters | Sounds | Examples |
cc |
[ks] [k] |
accent, accept, access, eccentric, accident; accommodate, account, accuse, occur, acclaim |
ch tch |
[ch] |
chain, check, chief, choose, teacher, much, church; kitchen, catch, match, watch, pitch, stretch |
ch (Latin, Greek) ch (French) |
[k] [sh] |
character, chemical, Chris, archive, mechanic, technical, ache; champagne, charlatan, chef, chic, machine, cache |
ck | [k] | black, pack, deck, kick, pick, cracker, pocket, rocket |
dge | [j] | bridge, edge, judge, knowledge, budget, badger |
gh |
[g] [f] [-] |
ghost, ghastly, Ghana, ghetto; cough, enough, rough, tough, laugh; though, through, weigh, neighbor, bought, daughter |
gu |
[g] [gw] |
guard, guess, guest, guide, guitar, dialogue; language, linguistics, Guatemala, Nicaragua |
ng |
[ŋ] [ŋ]+[g] |
king, sing, singer, singing, bang, long, wrong, tongue; finger, anger, angry, longer, longest, single |
ph | [f] | phone, photograph, phrase, phenomenon, biography |
qu |
[kw] [k] |
quality, question, quite, quote, equal, require; unique, technique, antique, grotesque |
sc |
[s] [sk] |
science, scissors, scene, scent, scythe; scan, scandal, scare, score, Scotch, scuba |
sch |
[sk] [sh] |
school, scholar, scheme, schedule; schnauzer, schedule |
sh | [sh] | share, she, shine, shoe, fish, cash, push, punish |
th |
[θ] [ð] |
thank, thick, think, thought, thunder, author, breath, bath; this, that, then, though, father, brother, breathe, bathe |
wh |
[w] [h] |
what, when, where, which, while, why, whale, wheel, white; who, whom, whose, whole |
xh |
[ks] [ks]+[h] [g]+[z] |
exhibition; exhumation, exhume, exhale; exhaust, exhibit, exhilarate, exhort, exhume, exhale |
With silent letters | Sounds | Examples |
bt, pt | [t] | doubt, debt, subtle; receipt, pterodactyl |
kn, gn, pn | [n] | knee, knife, know; gnome, sign, foreign; pneumonia, pneumatic |
mb, lm | [m] | lamb, climb, bomb, comb, tomb; calm, palm, salmon |
ps | [s] | psalm, pseudonym, psychologist, psychiatrist |
rh | [r] | rhapsody, rhetoric, rheumatism, rhythm, rhyme |
wr | [r] | wrap, wreck, wrestle, wrinkle, wrist, write, wrong |
Letters in the suffix | Sounds | Examples |
ti, ci, si, su | [sh] | nation, patient, special, vicious, pension, Asia, sensual, pressure |
si, su | [zh] | vision, fusion, Asia, usual, visual, measure, pleasure |
Read more about consonant letters and sounds in Spelling Patterns for Consonants and Silent Letters in the section Writing.
Прочитайте еще о согласных буквах и звуках в статьях Spelling Patterns for Consonants и Silent Letters в разделе Writing.