English

Alphabets
and their s
ounds

Facts for you and

your child to know

There are 26 letters in

the alphabet
There are 5 vowels a
eiou
There are 21
consonants
In spoken English:
there are 44 phonemes

Aa

= apple
= art
= car
= mate

Bb
= ball

Cc
= cake
= cent

Dd

= duck
,

E
e

= elephant
= need

Ff
= fish

Gg
= goat
= gym

Hh
= house

Ii

= Indian
= ice

Jj
= jam

K
k

= kite

Ll
= lamp

Mm
= mittens

Nn
= nest

Oo

= orange
= olives

Pp
= pig

, ,

Q q(u)
= queen

Rr
= rug

Ss
= sun
, ,

Tt

= turtle
, , , ,

Uu

= umbrella
= put
= unite

Vv
= vase

Ww
= wagon

X
x

= box
= xylophone

Y
y

= yarn
= crystal
= cry

Z
z

= zebra

The 44 phonemes
/b/

/d/

/f/

/g/

/h/

/j/

/k/

/l/

/m/

/n/

/ng/

/p/

/r/

/s/

/t/

/v/

/w/

/y/

/z/

/th/

/th/

/ch/

/sh/ /zh/ /a/

/e/

/i/

/o/

/u/

/ae/ /ee/ /ie/

/oe/

/ue/ /oo/ /ar/ /ur/ /au/ /er/ /ow/ /oi/

/air/ /ear/ /ure/

The 44 Phonemes of the English

Speaking Language
Consonants - 24
b d f g h j k (c) l m n p r s t v w y z
ch th th ng sh zh
Vowels - 20
a e i o u (short vowels)
ai ee igh oa oo oo air ear ar er er oi ure
or ow (long vowels)
These letters are a combination of two