English has 26 letters but around 44 sounds (in standard British pronunciation). That is why "read it as it’s written" does not work: one letter can stand for several sounds, and one sound can be spelt in several ways. This lesson covers letter names, vowel and consonant sounds, the main reading rules, stress and phonetic transcription. Together they are the base for catching words correctly in Listening, being understood in Speaking and reading a new word correctly from a dictionary.
§1. The alphabet and letter names
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
Vowel letters: a, e, i, o, u and sometimes y (my, happy); the rest are consonants.
A letter’s name differs from the sound it makes in a word. For example, H is /eɪtʃ/, W is /ˈdʌbəl juː/, Y is /waɪ/, and Z is /zed/ in Britain but /ziː/ in America. R is /ɑː/, Q is /kjuː/, X is /eks/.
Why does this matter? Listening tasks often spell out a name, surname, street or postcode: My surname is Karimov — K-A-R-I-M-O-V. Two identical letters in a row are read as double: Anna — A, double N, A. Numbers work the same way: double seven = 77, and 0 is often said as /əʊ/.
Pairs that learners most often confuse:
G /dʒiː/ and J /dʒeɪ/
E /iː/ and I /aɪ/
A /eɪ/ and R /ɑː/
B /biː/ and V /viː/
Worked example
In a Listening task you hear: It’s spelt G-E-O-R-G-E. Write the word down.
The first sound is /dʒiː/, which is G (not /dʒeɪ/, so not J).
The second sound is /iː/, which is E (not I, because I is /aɪ/).
The third is /əʊ/, so O; the fourth is /ɑː/, so R.
The last G-E repeats the first two letters.
Answer: GEORGE.
§2. Vowel sounds and syllable type
A single vowel letter has several sounds. The main key to reading it is the open versus closed syllable.
In an open syllable (the vowel is followed by one consonant and a silent final e) the letter says its name: name /neɪm/, these /ðiːz/, time /taɪm/, home /həʊm/, cute /kjuːt/. The final e is silent; it is often called the "magic e" because it stays quiet but "lengthens" the vowel before it.
In a closed syllable (the vowel is followed by a consonant and there is no final e) the sound is short: cat /æ/, bed /e/, sit /ɪ/, hot /ɒ/, cup /ʌ/.
hat — hate, bit — bite, not — note, cut — cute
The same rule explains spelling: hope → hoping (the e drops), but hop → hopping (the consonant doubles; otherwise the syllable would open and the pronunciation would change).
Vowel length changes meaning: ship /ɪ/ — sheep /iː/, full /ʊ/ — fool /uː/, live — leave. Words that differ in one sound only are called minimal pairs.
Letter combinations have their own readings:
ee, ea → /iː/ (see, tea), but ea is sometimes /e/ (bread, head)
oo → /uː/ (food) or /ʊ/ (book, good)
ai, ay → /eɪ/ (rain, day); oi, oy → /ɔɪ/ (coin, boy)
ou, ow → /aʊ/ (house, now), but ow is sometimes /əʊ/ (snow, know)
ar → /ɑː/ (car); or → /ɔː/ (fork); er, ir, ur → /ɜː/ (her, bird, turn)
The most frequent vowel in English is the weak schwa /ə/. It appears in unstressed syllables in place of almost any letter: about /əˈbaʊt/, teacher /ˈtiːtʃə/, banana /bəˈnɑːnə/.
Worked example
Read the words plane and plan.
plane: the vowel a is followed by one consonant n and a final e, so the syllable is open.
In an open syllable a says its name, /eɪ/; the final e is silent.
plan has no final e, so the syllable is closed and the vowel is short /æ/.
Answer: plane /pleɪn/ (an aircraft), plan /plæn/ (a scheme).
§3. Consonant sounds
Pay special attention to sounds that Uzbek does not have, or pronounces differently:
th has two sounds: voiceless /θ/ (think, three, bath) and voiced /ð/ (this, mother, with). The tip of the tongue goes between the teeth. Replacing them with /s/, /z/ or /t/, /d/ changes the word: think — sink, three — tree.
w /w/: rounded lips, teeth do not touch the lip; in /v/ the lower lip touches the teeth: wine — vine, west — vest.
ng /ŋ/: sing, long; no separate /g/ is heard at the end.
h /h/ is a light breath, without the friction of Uzbek x: house, hat.
r is not rolled; in British pronunciation it is not pronounced at the end of a word or before a consonant: /kɑː/, /pɑːk/.
Silent letters:knife, know (k), write, wrong (w), lamb, climb (b), hour, honest (h), listen, castle (t), island (s), Wednesday (the first d).
Readings that depend on the next letter:
c + e, i, y → /s/ (city, centre, cycle); otherwise /k/ (cat, cup)
g + e, i, y → often /dʒ/ (gym, page); exceptions: get, give, girl
Two-syllable nouns and adjectives usually stress the first syllable (’table, ’happy), while verbs often stress the second (be’gin, de’cide). In longer words the syllable before -tion, -sion, -ic, -ity is stressed: edu’cation, e’conomic, uni’versity. Adding a suffix can move the stress: ’photograph — pho’tographer — photo’graphic.
In a sentence, content words (nouns, main verbs, adjectives, adverbs) are stressed, while function words (a, the, to, of, and, can) are reduced: I want to go to the shop → /aɪ ˈwɒnt tə ˈɡəʊ tə ðə ˈʃɒp/. This gives English its "beat" rhythm, and it is why to, of, a are barely audible in Listening: you rebuild them from grammar and context.
Worked example
Find the stress in photographer.
The base word is ’photograph, stressed on the first syllable.
With -er the word has four syllables: pho-to-gra-pher.
In words like this the stress moves to the second syllable.
Answer: pho’tographer /fəˈtɒɡrəfə/.
§5. Transcription in the dictionary
Because spelling does not fully show pronunciation, dictionaries use symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). Record every new word with its transcription. Key symbols:
ː marks a long vowel: /iː/, /uː/, /ɑː/
ˈ goes before the stressed syllable: /əˈbaʊt/
ə is the weak schwa; ʌ is the short sound in cup; æ is the open sound in cat
θ, ð are th; ʃ is sh; tʃ is ch; dʒ is j; ŋ is ng
Online dictionaries (Cambridge, Oxford) give British and American pronunciations separately. Both are correct, but it is best to stick to one in your own speech.
§6. Practising pronunciation on your own
Effective methods:
Minimal pairs: ship — sheep, full — fool, think — sink, west — vest, bad — bed, cap — cup. First learn to hear the difference, then say it.
Shadowing: repeat after a speaker about one second behind, copying stress and rhythm.
Recording yourself: five minutes a day, then compare with the original.
Context: if you miss a sound in Listening, use meaning: leave the house or live in Tashkent.
Check yourself
How is i pronounced in bite?
Which word has a silent letter: knee, kite, kind?
How is -ed pronounced in wanted?
How is -ed pronounced in stopped?
Which is the verb: ’object or ob’ject?
How many syllables are pronounced in Wednesday?
Which sounds distinguish cap and cup?
How is c pronounced in city?
Common mistakes
Saying th as /s/ or /z/, so think sounds like sink.
Always reading -ed as /ɪd/: ✗ /wɜːkɪd/ → ✓ /wɜːkt/.
Pronouncing the final e: ✗ /neɪme/ → ✓ /neɪm/.
Saying w and v the same way, so west and vest merge.
Mixing up G/J, E/I, A/R when spelling aloud.
Ignoring vowel length: live and leave, full and fool.