004 IPA examples

Phonetic symbols
for English
This is the standard
set of phonemic
symbols for English
(RP and similar
accents).

Consonants

Vowels

p pen, copy, happen

ɪ

kit, bid, hymn, minute

b back, baby, job

e

dress, bed, head, many

t

æ trap, bad

tea, tight, button

d day, ladder, odd

ɒ

lot, odd, wash

k

key, clock, school

ʌ

strut, mud, love, blood

g get, giggle, ghost

ʊ

foot, good, put

tʃ church, match, nature

iː fleece, sea, machine

dʒ judge, age, soldier

eɪ face, day, break

f

fat, coffee, rough, photo

aɪ price, high, try

v

view, heavy, move

ɔɪ choice, boy

θ thing, author, path

uː goose, two, blue, group

ð this, other, smooth

əʊ goat, show, no

s

soon, cease, sister

aʊ mouth, now

z

zero, music, roses, buzz

ɪə near, here, weary

ʃ

ship, sure, national

eə square. fair, various

ʒ

pleasure, vision

ɑː start, father

h hot, whole, ahead

ɔː thought, law, north, war

m more, hammer, sum

ʊə poor, jury, cure

n nice, know, funny, sun

ɜː nurse, stir, learn, refer

ŋ ring, anger, thanks, sung

ə

about, common, standard

l

light, valley, feel

i

happy, radiate. glorious

r

right, wrong, sorry, arrange

u

j

thank you, influence,
situation

yet, use, beauty, few

suddenly, cotton

w wet, one, when, queen
ʔ

(glottal stop)
department, football

middle, metal
ˈ

(stress mark)


IPA Alphabetic representation
p p
b b
t
t, th (rarely) thyme, Thames
d d
c (+ a, o, u, consonants), k, ck, ch, qu (rarely) conquer, kh (in foreign
k
words)
ɡ g, gh, gu (+ a, e, i), gue (final position)
m m
n n
ŋ n (before g or k), ng
f
f, ph, gh (final, infrequent) laugh, rough
v v
θ th thick, think, through
ð th that, this, the
s s, c (+ e, i, y), sc (+ e, i, y), ç often c (façade/facade)
z

ʃ

z, s (finally or occasionally medially), ss (rarely) possess, dessert, wordinitial x xylophone
sh, sch (some dialects) schedule (plus words of German origin), ti
(before vowel) portion, ci/ce (before vowel) suspicion, ocean; si/ssi

(before vowel) tension, mission; ch (esp. in words of French origin);
rarely s/ss before u sugar, issue; chsi in fuchsia only

medial si (before vowel) division, medial s (before "ur") pleasure, zh (in
foreign words), z before u azure, g (in words of French origin) (+e, i, y)
genre, j (in words of French origin) bijou
h h (syllable-initially, otherwise silent)
tʃ ch, tch, t before u future, culture
dʒ j, g (+ e, i, y), dg (+ e, i, consonant) badge, judg(e)ment
r r, wr (initial) wrangle
j
y (initially or surrounded by vowels), j hallelujah
l
l
w w
ʒ