IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) Guide

English vowels
Symbol

Example Words

cup, luck, up

a
a

arm (bright ah)

ah
cat, black, bat

away, about

chaotic

bet, met, bed

turn, learn, herd

butter (colored with an r)

hit, sitting, bit

see, heat, beet

call, saw

put, could, book

blue, food, boot

obey

ai

five, eye

now, out

o,

go, home

where, air

ei

say, eight

near, here

boy, join

pure, tourist

ju

use

English consonants
p

pet

bet

toe

doe

kit

give

moon

neat

hung

feet

vain

think (unvoiced th)

than (voiced th)

sea

zip

she (unvoiced sh)

azure (voiced zh)

heat

lift

rose

yes

hw

when (unvoiced w)

were (voiced w)

cheek (unvoiced ch)

jeer, gin (voiced j)

Italian enya and elya

(enya)

degno, bisogna

(elya)

egli, figlio, voglio

German symbols
y (tongue [i] lips [u])
Y (tongue [I] lips [])

fr, sss
mss, Glck

(tongue [e] lips[o])

hrt, schn

(tongue [] lips [])

knnte, lscht

(ichlaut)

dich, licht, duftig

x (achlaut)

nach, auch, noch

ae (dipthong)

sein, Saiten, einmal

ao (dithong)

Auge, auf, blaues

(dipthong)

Freude, leuchtet, neuen

or l (glottal stop)

(used in between IPA symbols to indicate

a glottal stop)

French symbols
y (tongue [i] lips [u])

tu, sur, du

(tongue [e] lips[o])

deux, bleu, yeux

(tongue [] lips [])

seul, coeur, jeune

bien, matin
champ, enfant

son, bon, tombeau

parfum, un, humble

(enya)

digne, agneau

(glide)

lui, bruit, nuage, suis