Monophthong- a vowel sound pronounced within one stressed syllable. When pronouncing a monophthong, the organs of speech retain some fixed position.

There are 12 monophthongs in English:, [i], [u], , [e], [ə], [ə:], [ɔ], [ɔ:], [æ], [ʌ], .

On the letter it can be indicated by one letter or a combination of letters.

b u t

h er

Diphthong- a combination of two vowel elements pronounced without a pause in one stressed syllable. The first part of a diphthong is called the nucleus. The second part is called sliding.

In writing, a diphthong can be denoted by a single letter or a combination of letters.

b y

l ie

A diphthong must be distinguished from a digraph. A digraph is a combination of two letters within the same syllable.

In English, there is also a combination of three vowel elements pronounced without a pause in one stressed syllable, which is called triphthong. There are 2 triphthongs in English: and.

There are 8 diphthongs in English: , , [ɔi], , [əu], , , .

When pronouncing a diphthong, the organs of speech first take a position for its first part - nuclei, and then, "gliding smoothly", go to the second - slip.

Diphthong

The first element, the core, sound [e] is more open than outside the diphthong. To pronounce the nucleus, lift your tongue, slightly stretch your lips.

When pronouncing the second element, slip [i], the tongue rises higher, while the middle sound between [i] and [ə] is pronounced

It looks like the Russian "hey", in which the "y" is much stronger.

Diphthong

To pronounce the first element, the core, sound [a], bare your teeth and lower your lower jaw, rest the tip of your tongue against your lower teeth.

When pronouncing the second element, sliding [i], the middle part of the tongue slides up at the same time as the jaw rises, while pronouncing a sound that resembles a cross between [i] and [ə].

It looks like the Russian "ay", in which the "y" is much stronger.

Diphthong [ɔi]

When pronouncing the first element, the nucleus, lower the jaw low, rest the tip of the tongue on the lower teeth, and slightly round the lips.

Gliding goes in the direction of the sound [i].

It looks like the Russian "oy", in which the "y" sounds more distinct.

Diphthong

The first element, the core, is similar to the sound [æ]. When pronouncing, the distance between the jaws should be large enough.

The second element, slip, is somewhere between [u] and [ɔ]. During the sliding, the jaws are somewhat closer, the tongue rises, the lips are slightly rounded.

Diphthong [əu]

The first element, the core, sound [ə], is something between "o" and "e". Lower the lower jaw, slightly stretch the lips.

When pronouncing the second element, sliding [u], the jaw rises, the lips are rounded.

Diphthong

When pronouncing the first element, the core [i], the back of the tense tongue is raised high, the lips are slightly stretched.

The slide is in the direction of the neutral [ə], with the tongue moving slightly backwards.

Diphthong [ɛə]/

To pronounce the first element, the core, the sound [ɛ] / [e] (different designations are found in different sources), stretch your lips into a wide smile, while touching the lower teeth with your tongue. The distance between the upper and lower teeth should be about 1 cm.

The slide goes in the direction of the [ʌ] sound and is accompanied by a lowering of the voice.

Diphthong

When pronouncing the first element, the nucleus, the tongue is in its usual position, slightly pulled back, the lips are slightly rounded.

The slide is in the direction of the neutral sound [ə].

Learning to pronounce English words again. We are with you already, and now we got to diphthongs.

A diphthong is a combination of two vowels into one syllable (according to Ushakov's explanatory dictionary). That is, a diphthong is a syllable consisting of two vowels.

I remind you that the transcription reflects the sound of the word, and not its letter form.

English diphthongs:

there are only 8 of them, and we will divide them into 3 groups to make it more convenient

• like, high, buy;
• cake, sale, fail;
• [ɔi] boy,

• where, bear, care;
• here, beer,
• poor, tour,

• cow, mouse, house;
• [əu] home, hello, rose.

So, look at the diphthongs again. They are all made up of two vowels. I have tried my best to provide a variety of examples. Looking at these examples, you may notice that the sound and spelling of words can be very different.

It happens that it is difficult to predict how a word is read correctly, only by its written form. Therefore, it does not hurt to check the transcription of words in the dictionary.

What are they worth high, buy, and like! After all, they are spelled differently.

Having studied the Russian alphabet, we can easily read any texts. But for correct reading in English, you will have to make more efforts, because there are many discrepancies between the spelling and pronunciation of words. If you decide to learn this language on your own and cannot understand how to read words in English correctly, then this material is exactly what you need. Today we will analyze the nuances of the pronunciation of English letters and letter combinations, and find out how easy it is to learn to read English from scratch. And it will help to learn the rules of reading English for beginners with a table that shows all the letters and their sound.

First, let's get acquainted with the most important law of reading in English - the rule of open and closed syllables. There is no similar norm in Russian, so let's analyze in detail what it is. Pay attention to transcription.

An open syllable is a syllable that ends in a vowel. As a rule, it occurs in the following cases:

• The word ends in a vowel, so the last syllable is always open: t ake[take].*
• A vowel is followed by a consonant followed by a vowel again: ed uca tion [education].
• Two vowels side by side in a word: cr ue l [cruel].

*Ultimate e in most cases it is considered "dumb", that is, it is not pronounced, but appears at the base of the word precisely for the formation of an open syllable.

In open syllables, the vowel is always pronounced smoothly and extended. Accordingly, closed syllables are all those syllables in which the vowel sound is closed by a consonant and therefore sounds short and abrupt: c ut[cat].

In addition, special reading rules in English are characteristic of syllables in which the vowel sound is closed by the letter r. The fact is that in the British version of the pronunciation of such syllables, the letter r is often completely skipped, i.e. not pronounced. Therefore, there are two options for reading such letter combinations:

1. In an open syllable, when r is surrounded by vowels, only both vowels are read: c are[keea]. In such cases, the last e won't be dumb.
2. In a closed syllable ( voice + r + acc.), r is also not readable, but affects the sound of the vowel sound, making it more drawn out: start [staat]

The rule of open and closed syllables is the basic law of reading in English, although there are many exceptions to it. But it is too early to learn exceptions without knowing the main rules. Therefore, now we will consider the sound options for all letters and letter combinations.

Rules for reading English for beginners - a table of correspondence of letters and sounds

Even if you started learning English and reading it from scratch, you probably already know the spelling and sound of all the letters of the English alphabet. But, as we already learned from the previous section, when reading, the pronunciation of letters depends on the type of syllable or letter combination. Therefore, in the tables below you can find several variants of the sound of the same letter at once. But do not be alarmed, for each case an accessible explanation will be given. So, let's continue to learn English for beginners and learn the rules of reading in English.

Consonants

Let's start with the easiest: with a table of consonants, the pronunciation of which is similar to the Russian sound.

Letter	Transcription	Russian pronunciation
B	[b]	b
D	[d]	d*
F	[f]	f
K	[k]	to
L	[l]	l
M	[m]	m
N	[n]	n
P	[p]	P
R	[r]	R
S	[s]	With
	[z]	h (only in special positions: after voiced consonants, between two vowels and in the -ism suffix.)
T	[t]	t*
V	[v]	in
W	[w]	in**
Z	[z]	h

*English d and t are more aspirated than their Russian counterparts.

**w is pronounced with lips extended into a tube, resulting in something between the Russian sounds в and у.

Now let's deal with more complex letters.

Letter	Transcription	Pronunciation and explanation
C	[s]	c (before vowels i, e, y)
	[k]	to (in other cases)
G		j (before vowels i, e, y)
	[g]	g (in other cases)
H	[h]	Very weakly pronounced Russian X (almost just a strong exhalation)
Q		sq.
X		ks (before a consonant or at the end of a word)
		z (between two vowels)
	[z]	h (at the beginning of a word before a vowel)

And also we will study the letter combinations of consonants in English.

Combination	Transcription	Pronunciation
ck	[k]	to
ch		h
tch
ng	[ŋ]	nasal n
ph	[f]	f
sh	[ʃ]	sh
th	[θ]	1) middle sound between s and f (tongue between teeth) 2) the sound is average between h and v (tongue between teeth)
wr	[r]	R
wh	[w]	at / in x (only before o)
qu		sq.

In addition, it is worth considering that the consonants at the very end of the word, the English language never allows you to stun. Otherwise, you may say something completely different from what you wanted to say. For example: back [back] - behind, behind; bag [bag] - bag, bag.

Vowels

It is much more difficult to cope with reading English vowels, but the already familiar rules of open and closed syllables will help us figure it out. We take them into service and learn how to read the vowels of the English language correctly.

Closed syllable
Letter	Transcription	Pronunciation	Examples
A	[æ]	uh	bat, track, sad
E	[e]	uh	pet, red, check
I	[ɪ]	and	pit, fill, tin, system, myth, lynx
Y
O	[ɒ]	about	spot, not, cross
U	[ʌ]	a	spun, truck, butter

Do not forget that in a closed syllable all letters are pronounced briefly.

open syllable
Letter	Transcription	Pronunciation	Examples
A		hey	game, flame, lake
E		and	he, be, Pete
I		ah	mine, like, nine, cry, bye, type
Y
O	[əʊ]	OU	bone, tone, rose
U		Yu	pupil, music, cube

And the vowels of an open syllable are always smooth and drawn out.

Open syllable with r
Letter	Transcription	Pronunciation	Examples
A		ea	square
E	[ɪə]	ie	here
I		aye	tired
Y
O	[ɔː]	oo	more
U		yue	cure

Remember that the letter r after a vowel, as a rule, is not pronounced.

Percovered syllable with r
Letter	Transcription	Pronunciation	Examples
A	[ɑː]	aa	dark
O	[ɔː]	oo	sports
E	[ɜː]	yo	pert, bird, myrtle, burn
I
Y
U

Now we know how to read vowels in English words. But for perfect reading in English, one more point needs to be studied.

Diphthongs and triphthongs in English

An important aspect of English for beginners is diphthongs and triphthongs, i.e. combinations of two or three letters that have a special sound. Their pronunciation is called sliding, because. first, the main sound is pronounced intensely, and then it is smoothly translated into a secondary sound. Diphthongs are a kind of exception and do not obey the general grammatical laws, so they can only be learned by heart. The table below will help us learn the rules for reading English diphthongs for beginners.

English diphthongs
Combinations	Transcription	Pronunciation
air, ear, are		uh*
ye, igh, uy, ie		ah
ea, ey, ai, ei, ei		hey
ere, eer, ier, ear	[ɪə]	ie
oy, oi	[ɔɪ]	oh
ou, ow		aow
ou, ow, oa, ol	[əu]	ooh
ure, ue, our, oor		uue
English triphthongs
ower, our		aue
eur, ure		yuyue
iet, ire, ier, iar, yre		aaye

* doubling the letter indicates the length of the first sound, in relation to the second.

So, we have considered the main nuances of reading in English. Take these rules responsibly: conduct reading lessons more often and be sure to learn to distinguish between types of syllables in English. Otherwise, you will make gross mistakes in pronunciation, which will lead to a complete misunderstanding by the interlocutor of your words. Good luck in learning English and see you soon!

Difficult for Russian-speaking students. This is due to the fact that in English most words are not read the way they are written. In addition, there are sounds in English that are not in Russian, and it is not easy to get used to these sounds. And sometimes these sounds are combined into diphthongs and triphthongs- phonetic units, which are also not in the Russian language. Consider what triphthongs and diphthongs are in English.

What are diphthongs and triphthongs

Diphthong- This is a combination of two vowel sounds that are pronounced without a pause.

Triphthong- This is a combination of three vowel sounds, which, as in diphthongs, are pronounced without a pause.

Each diphthong and triphthong has two elements - the core and the glide. The core is the main part of a diphthong or triphthong, which is pronounced louder and clearer. And sliding is a minor element that you pronounce more quietly.

English diphthongs and triphthongs in the table

There are eight diphthongs in English, which can be conditionally grouped into three groups:

1. ending in ə : ɪə, eə, ʊə;


2. ending in ɪ : eɪ, aɪ, ɔɪ;


3. ending in ʊ : əʊ, aʊ.

Triphthongs also include: eɪə, aɪə, ɔɪə, əʊə, aʊə.

Diphthong table:

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Irregular verbs of the English language: table, rules and examples

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Diphthong	Pronunciation	Examples
eɪ	Pronounced like the Russian "hey", only softer and with an emphasis on "e".	late - late kate - kate day rain - rain fail - failure wait - wait
əʊ	Intermediate sound between the Russian "ou" and "eu".	soap - soap road - road toast - toast soul - soul though - although shoulder - shoulder
ɑɪ	Similar to the Russian "ay", but with a softer "y".	dry - dry why - why by fight - fight light - light high - high
ɑʊ	It is pronounced like "ay", while "a" is read long, and "y" is short.	house - at home sound - sound plow bough - branch now - now cow - cow how - how
ɔɪ	It looks like the Russian "oh", only with a softer "th".	boy - boy ploy - trick noise - noise choice - choice point
ɪə	An intermediate meaning between the Russian "ie" and "ee".	weird - strange fierce - fierce fakir - fakir museum - museum theological - theological
ɛə	An intermediate meaning between the Russian "ea" and "ee".	care - care rare - rare share - share bear - bear pear - pear wear - wear their - their heir - heir there - there
ʊə	It is pronounced like the Russian "ue", only more drawn out, with an emphasis on "y".	poor - poor moor - peat bog pure - pure endure - endure cure - treatment sure - sure tour - tour dour - harsh gourd - pumpkin

Triphthong table:

Common mistakes in pronouncing diphthongs and triphthongs

Russian-speaking students are characterized by two serious mistakes when pronouncing diphthongs and triphthongs:

1. Using Russian sounds instead of English diphthongs. At the first stages of acquaintance with English phonetics, the student usually associates unfamiliar English sounds with familiar Russian ones. This helps the beginner to speak faster, but later in English speech it is necessary to get rid of Russian sounds, since it will be more difficult to relearn further.
2. "Swallowing" a sliding sound. Each diphthong and triphthong must be pronounced in full, pronouncing not only its core, but also the rest of the sounds. There are many similar words in the English language, which differ by ear just with the help of sliding words, so if you “swallow” them, you may not be understood.

Video about diphthongs and triphthongs in English:

Let's see what diphthongs are.

Diphthongs are a combination of vowel sounds.

For example: hire [`haiə]- in this word a diphthong will make a sound ah

mere- this word is a diphthong will make a sound ia

The following diphthongs exist in English: [ͻi] [ʊə] [əʊ]

Let's look at these diphthongs in detail.

Let's start with a diphthong ah.

Now let's try it on our own:

buy buy - buy

guide guide

guy guy

die die - die

Shy [ʃai] shy - modest

sky sky

Dry dry - dry

Final [`fainəl] final - final

Let's move on to the next diphthong. . This diphthong is pronounced like hey. Now we ourselves are trying to pronounce a diphthong.

make make - do

Fake fake - fake

Break brake - break

Same same - one and the same

game game

Pain pain

brain brain

Next diphthong . It is pronounced like ia.

We try:

beer beer - beer

Dear dear - dear

Senior [`si: niə] senior - senior

Now consider the diphthong . This diphthong is pronounced like ea.

We train:

bear bear

Dare dare - dare

Where where - where

Air air - air

Hair hair - hair

Care care - worry

Diphthong [ͻi]. This diphthong is pronounced like a Russian sound oh.

Let's try it ourselves:

toy toy

Void void - emptiness

Let's move on to the diphthong. [ʊə] . The diphthong is pronounced like ya.

And again yourself:

pure pure - pure

Poor poor - poor

Lure lure - seduction

cure cure

Next diphthong [əʊ] . Pronounced like OU.

We train on our own:

glow glow - intense heat

Go go - go

Goal goal

scold scold - grumble

Quote quote - quote

Blow blow - blow

And the last diphthong . This diphthong is pronounced as ay.

Now we try to pronounce the diphthong on our own:

down down - down

brown brown

cloud cloud

town town

So we looked at diphthongs in English. Not a difficult topic at all, but very important. You must pronounce diphthongs correctly, so be sure to watch all the instructional videos on this topic. Do not forget that you must know how to read, not only diphthongs, but also, and. The correct pronunciation of words should be given special attention. After all, many English words differ only in the pronunciation of one syllable.

For example: tear if you say this word , then it translates as a tear. And if you pronounce it like , then it translates as a hole, tear, tear. Please note that 2 words are spelled exactly the same, but are pronounced completely differently. So do not forget to learn phonetics.