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Hi all! We started talking about vowel sounds and today we’ll look at sound Ei, which seems to be a logical continuation.

A little information: the sound Ei is a diphthong because it is a double sound. The cases in which the sound Ei is pronounced are described in any textbook or website dedicated to English grammar. Let us briefly recall that words with this sound are either open syllable, for example, face, plate, table; also in combination of the letters Ay or Ey: day, say, grey, they.

It seems that the sound is very light, but we will remind you once again that in English the vowel sounds are more guttural than in Russian, so this sound should come from your throat and not close to your lips. And in general, this is not the sound “Hey”, the sound Ei is something between “Hey” and “Hey”, but a guttural one. Of course, different vocalists may have deviations towards the rougher “Hey” or the softer “Ey”, but we must remember that the English sound is not similar to the Russian “Hey”. We take the middle option.

Let's turn again to introductory lesson about vowels: to understand how guttural sounds are pronounced, you need to pronounce the sound “Y”. You will feel your larynx expanding. You need to remember this feeling and try to place vowel sounds where the sound “Y” is born.

Now let's look at practical example. There is a wonderful song by The Police called “Every Breath You Take”. It seems that Sting wrote it specifically for English learners: there are a lot of words with the sound Ei.

Two verses are enough to give you plenty of practice.

Every breath you take
And every move you make,
Every bond you break
Every step you take
I'll be watching you.

Every single day
And every word you say
Every game you play
Every night you stay
I'll be watching you.

The first word with the sound Ei is take. The T sound is already preparing us for correct pronunciation Ei, because in T the tongue rests on the upper palate (see), which already expands the larynx.

In the word break, the sound R seems to round off the sound Ei, again, due to the raised tongue, the larynx expands. IN next word day language is also raised in the D sound and again widens the larynx so that the vowels “sit” deeper in the throat and do not fly out to the teeth. And the same can be said about the word say: the sound S differs from the Russian S, when the tongue does not reach towards the teeth, but forms a gap with the upper palate, as a result it resembles the Russian sound Ш (see about the letter S). Then the words play and stay follow - the tongue touches the palate, as in previous cases.

In conclusion of the lesson, I want to say that you need to learn to sing the sound Ei deeply, not superficially to the lips. Listen to English-speaking vocalists, try to notice the nuances of pronunciation and, most importantly, practice!

In the next lesson we will start about the English [æ] sound. See and read the list of all lessons on our project “Singing in English without an accent.” AND subscribe to our YouTube channel to always stay up to date with new lessons.

- diphthong (vowel consisting of two sounds). The first element resembles the Russian sound “e”: the lips are slightly stretched. The second element is a weak, “sliding” sound [e].

For example:
same(seim) - the same, identical;
mail(mail) - mail;
say(sey) - to speak, to say;
stay(stay) - stop, remain;
game(game) - game; mining;
lame(leim) - lame; unconvincing.

[æ] - open vowel. The tip of the tongue touches the lower teeth, the jaw is slightly lowered. Something between "a" and "e".

For example:
back(back) - back; back;
sad(sed) - sad;
tap(tap) - water tap.
All “uh” with an “a” added.

[ә] - neutral and always unstressed sound. Reminds me of the short Russian “e”.

For example: matter(mete) - business; question;
letter(lete) - letter; letter;
later(leite) - later;
barber(ba:(r)be) - hairdresser.
In all examples we are talking about the vowel sound in last syllable.

[b]- very similar to Russian “b”, but never softens and does not turn into “p” in an unvoiced position.

For example:
superb(su:pe:(r)b or syu:pe:b) - excellent; luxurious;
bullet(bulet) - bullet;
bet(bet) - bet;
frisbee(Frisbee) - plastic flying saucer, toy.

Relative pronouns in English are pronouns that form a relative subordinate clause. These include: who, whom, which, whose, that.

Just Letters and Sounds Just letters and sounds

The English have 26 letters in their alphabet - seven less than ours. Which already makes it easier for us to get to know English.

The English Alphabet - English alphabet
Ahh(Hey)	Nn(en)
Bb(bi:)	Oo(OU)
Cc(si:)	Pp(pi:)
Dd(di:)	Qq(Q:)
Her(And:)	Rr[ɑ:] (a:)
Ff(ef)	Ss(es)
Gg[ʤi:] (ji:)	Tt(ty:)
Hh(H)	Uu(Yu:)
II(ouch)	Vv(in and:)
Jj[ʤei] (jay)	Ww["dʌblju:] (dabblju:)
Kk(kay)	Xx(the ex)
Ll(el)	Yy(wow)
mm(Em)	Zz(zed)

IN square brackets shows how to pronounce each letter of the English alphabet. In standard British version language letter R sometimes it doesn’t “speak out” at all: car(car), star(star), door(door). In America, as well as in some areas of England, this letter sounds - a dull growl - and you can safely pronounce it if you wish: arm[ɑ:rm] (hand), form(form, form), turn(turn).

If you see a dotted line under the text, then there is a hint for that text. IN in this case this is approximate (≈) Russian pronunciation, represented in the English alphabet by parentheses. And now attention! Yours task for this lesson: learn to read as it is written in square in parentheses, not in round ones! The pronunciation in parentheses is given only for those who are new to the English language. Immediately after getting acquainted with all the sounds below, they will not be there. And if someone somewhere teaches you to read using Russian transcription, know that they are deceiving you. Below will be given text, audio, video explanations of each sound.

Alphabet need to learn by heart. Why? It happens that we are not sure how to spell a particular name correctly and we have to clarify:

Spell your name. - Tell your name spell by letter.
Spell it, please. - Tell his spell by letter, Please.

And the interlocutor, whose name is, say, Timothy, or, in short, Tim, dictates to us:

Timothy -

Additionally, to reinforce the English alphabet:

Word - Word

Spell - useful verb, which helps us clarify the spelling of any word, even the most “tricky” one. There is a city in England called Leicester. To the ear, the name has five sounds: ["lestə]. Let's try to find it on English map. Where is it? Let's check with our friend Tim:

How do you spell it? - How do you write it?
Spell this name for us. - Spell this name for us.

Tim spells the name. We write it down. We write down:

[ɑ:] - Leicester.

There are only five sounds, but nine letters! There are nine letters in Leicester . Historically, some letters in this name became "silent".

Tim will name a few more cities, and you will write them - right here on the lines.

	[ɑ:]
	[ɑ:]

Notes - Notes

Names (Ann, Tim), names of continents (Africa, Asia), countries (England, Russia), cities (Bristol, York), villages (Pendrift), streets (Oxford Street), squares ( Trafalgar Square) and lanes (Penny Lane) are written with a capital letter.

Your Dictionary
Your dictionary

Your dictionary is English-Russian, it contains English words with Russian translation. They are arranged strictly in alphabetical order.

Let's find the translation of the word please- in the section under the letter R. A few simple rules:

1. In order not to read the entire section from beginning to end, we look at the second letter of the word - l. The alphabetical principle applies again: letter combination pl comes after combinations pa, re, ph, pi. Here come the words to pl: place(place), plain(plain)... It’s time to look at the third letter e. Then on the fourth A. And then after pleasant["plezǝnt] (pleasant), but before pleasure["рлеʒǝ] (pleasure) we find the word we need.

2. After please worth the reduction v , after pleasant - A . What kind of "secret writing" is this? The solution-explanation is at the very beginning of the dictionary - in List conditional abbreviations . Bukovka n stands for noun(noun); v - verb(verb); A - adjective(adjective); adv - adverb(adverb).
These pointers are not meant to "burden" you grammatical terms. In English, there are cases when the same word can act as a noun or a verb, an adjective or an adverb. The dictionary will tell you what part of speech it is and then give you the translation.

help 1. v to help. 2. n help; assistant.
fast 1. A fast, quick. 2. adv fast.

3. Nouns in all dictionaries are given in the singular.

Some words do not have a singular number. The letters indicate this pl : from plural(plural).

clothes n pl cloth
scissors["sɪzəz] n pl scissors

It happens, fortunately, rarely that the word “looks” like plural, but in fact it is in the only thing. The dictionary will not let you make mistakes: sing means singular(singular). For example, news(used as sing) news, news.

4. Verbs are given a stem from which others are formed. verb forms- in particular, the past tense.

5. A word can have two or more meanings, so don’t rush to take the translation that comes “first on the list.” Let's say noun letter translated as letter or letter. Let's read two sentences: in the first we're talking about about letters, in the second about letters.

There are twenty-six letters in the English alphabet. - There are twenty-six letters in the English alphabet.

We write and get letters. - We write and receive letters.

6. It is useful to review all the explanations for the paragraph in which it is located. the right word. Let's quickly run our eyes through it, and something will be “deposited” in our memory.
Let's look at the paragraph (nest, as dictionary compilers call it) in which the word “nests” look. The first value is look. Second - to look like. AND additional information: look in combination with after has the meaning take care(about someone) keep an eye on(behind someone). Combination look for translated search.
After some time, you come across a text with these combinations and, quite possibly, you will translate it from memory, without looking at the dictionary.

I look at my sister. - I look at my sister.
She looks fine. - She looks great.
I look after my sister. - I take care of my sister.
She looks for her doll. - She's looking for her doll.

7. The dictionary gives the transcription, that is, the pronunciation, in square brackets. Only with the help of dictionary transcription we learn that, for example, London(London) pronounced ["lʌndǝn], a Leicester(Lester) is read ["lestǝ] and nothing else.
If a word has one syllable, the stress mark is not placed in the transcription; there is no need for it.

If two or more syllables are pronounced, the stress must be indicated, and the sign appears before the stressed syllable.

alphabet["ælfəbət] n alphabet
England["ɪŋglənd] n England
English["ɪŋglɪʃ] and English
tomorrow n Tomorrow

In Russian, vowel length does not matter. Pronounce in English long sound twice as long as the short one. Otherwise fist will turn into feast, A pot- V port. The length of a vowel sound is marked with [ː] or simply a colon.

Transcription is especially necessary when there are letter combinations, which are written the same but pronounced differently. As in these pairs of words:

The Sounds of English
Sounds in English

Click on the red button on the right to watch the video.
Also don't forget to point at tips, highlighted with a dotted line.
Given through a fraction different spelling one sound, i.e. for example, in dictionaries you may also find[i], And [ɪ] :)

Vowels - Vowels

[æ]	c a t (cat), c a rry (carry), r a t (rat), d a d, m a n (person, man) Note: This sound Not correspond to Russian E. If someone teaches you this, you are being cruelly deceived. Hover over the tooltip on the left for details.
[ɑ:]	h ar m (harm), f ar(far), cl a ss (class)
	h e(he), m ea l (food), tr ee(tree)
[i]/[ɪ]	i t (it), s i t (sit), t i ck e t (ticket)
[e]/[ɛ]	b e st (best), m e nd (to repair), p e n (handle)
[o]/[ɔ]	c o ffee (coffee), n o t (not), r o ck (rock)
[o:]/[ɔː]	m or ning (morning), b a ll (ball), sm a ll (small)
[u]/[ʊ]	b oo k (book), f oo t (leg), p u t (put)
	bl ue(blue), m o ve (move), s oo n (soon)
[ʌ]	c u p (cup), m o ther (mother), s o me (a little)
[ɜː]/[ǝ:]	th ir d (third), w or k (work), l ear n (teach)
[ǝ]	teach er(teacher), Sat ur day (Saturday)

Diphthongs - Diphthongs

(combinations of two vowels)

/	b a by (child), s ay(say), tr ai n (train)
/	i ce (ice), l ie(lie down), m y(my)
/	cl ou d (cloud), fl ow er (flower), t ow n (city)
/[ǝʊ]	n o(No), o nly (only), r oa d (road)
/[ɔɪ]	c oi n (coin), n oi se (noise), b oh(boy)
/[ɪǝ]	ear(ear), d ear(dear), h here(Here)
[ɛǝ]/	air(air), b ear(bear), th here(there)
/[ʊǝ]	p oor(poor), s ure(confident)

Consonants - Consonants

[b]	b ack (back), hus b and (husband), ri b(edge)
[p]	p ast (past), o p en (open)
[d]	d ay (day), d ark (dark), win d ow (window)
[t]	t ake (take), t ree (tree), ho t(hot)
[k]	k ing (king), c old (cold), si ck(sick)
[g]	g et (receive), ba g(bag), g irl (girl)
[v]	v ery (very), ha v e (to have), ne v er (never)
[f]	f i f teen (fifteen), wi f e (wife), ph rase (phrase)
[z]	z ero (zero), ma z e (labyrinth), ro s e (rose)
[s]	s o (so), ba s ket (basket), c ity (city)
[θ]	th in (thin), th ink (think), no th ing (nothing)
[ð]	th is (this), toge th er (together), fa th er (father)
[ʃ]	sh ip (ship), fi sh(fish), Ru ss ian (Russian)
[ʒ]	lei s ure (leisure), gara g e (garage), mira g e (mirage)
[ʧ]	ch air (chair), ea ch(each), mu ch(a lot of)
[ʤ]	j u dg e (judge), a g e (age), language g e (language)
[h]	h at (hat), un h appy (unhappy)
[l]	l ike (to love), pu ll(to pull), l ast (last)	n ever (never), li n e (line), rou n d (round)
[ŋ] y es (yes), on i on (bow), Ital i an (Italian)

Notes - Notes

1. Doubled consonants in English words pronounced as one sound.

2. Unlike Russian, English voiced consonants at the end of a word do not become voiceless. For example, in the word rub should sound clear [b]. In a word good also clearly pronounce the sound [d], and in the word dog sound [g].

Conversation - Conversation

I want to speak as quickly as possible. And the best way to start a conversation in English is hello. This greeting corresponds to Russian Hello, Hello, Hello.

Hello, boys and girls. - Hello, boys and girls.
Hello, everybody. - Hello everyone.

Use hello in conversation with close relatives, friends, classmates.

Hello Mum. - Hello mother.
Hello Dad. - Hello, dad.
Hello Nick! Hello Tim! - Hello, Nick! Hello Tim!

Speak hello, calling out to someone on the street, attracting attention, or answering a phone call.

Hello! - Hey!
Hello. - Hello.

Discussion - Discussion

English dad And mum correspond to our dad And Mother. When it comes to your own parents, these words become like names and are written with capital letters: Mum, Dad. There is a more affectionate way of saying: Mummy["mʌmi] (mommy), Daddy["dædi] (daddy).
On more formal occasions they are used father["fɑ:ðǝ] (father) and mother["mʌðǝ] (mother).

Exercises - Exercises

Exercise 1. Place the words in alphabetical order.

Dog, girl, go, acorn, tree, and, spell, sit, dad, conversation, well, he, what, take, egg, make, sorry, little, big, wife, question, word.

Exercise 2. Spell these words. - Spell these words.

Father, money, which, quarter, seem, jam, gust, peck, next, zebra, capital.

Exercise 3. In the famous book "Alice Through the Looking Glass", the chess White Queen boasts to Alice that she knows the alphabet (ABC) and can read single-letter words.

The White Queen says, "I know the ABC. I can read words of one letter."

Words with one letter are a very rare thing, for example, an article A. There are much more words of two and three letters, for example, go(go), do(do), in(V), and(And), but(But).

In the following text, without going into its meaning too much, select all words of two, then three letters.

London is a big city. It is very old. It lies on the River Thames. The history of London goes back to Roman times. London has a lot of sights. There are many parks in it. a

Phrases - Phrases

When saying goodbye, the British say:

Good bye. - Goodbye.
Bye! - Bye!
See you later. - See you later.
See you tomorrow. - Till tomorrow.

P.S. A little clarification for beginners:

• The lesson contains a description of the dictionary and an exercise for working with the dictionary. There is no dictionary on the site, only the lesson dictionary in the following lessons. You must have your own dictionary, whether paper or electronic, but you must have it. Among electronic ones, Lingvo X5/X6 and the Lingvo Live website are recommended. Google Translate- this is not a dictionary, it can guess correct translation, and may not guess, inexperienced people should not use it.
• In this 'English alphabet lesson' you only need to be able to read and reproduce sounds correctly. Start memorizing words from the following lessons.
• Lessons are free! Additional same lessons, incl. interactive ones, also free, but their number (free) is limited.
• Please update/change your browser if you have problems with your audio player. They only appear on something outdated.
• To go to the next lesson, click "Next >" below right or select a lesson from the menu at the top right. On mobile devices The right menu drops to the very bottom under comments.

The sound [ei] is a diphthong, i.e. indivisible sound. The core of the diphthong is the vowel [e]. After pronouncing the nucleus, the tongue makes a slight upward movement in the direction of the sound [i], without reaching its full formation. There is no such sound in Russian. Clear pronunciation of the second part of the diphthong is not allowed.

Compare:

Here is what the diphthong [ei] sounds like in English words:

On the letter the sound [ei] is indicated by: - ​​the letter Aa[ei] if followed by one consonant (sometimes two) + the letter " e", which is called a silent letter. It is not pronounced, but only indicates that the letter " a"reads as [ei]: name, date, sale, snake, gate, tape, late, stale. - letter combination" ey" also read as [ei]: gray [grei], they [ei]. Exception: key [ki:].

Sound [ə]

If a word contains unstressed vowels, then in transcription they are indicated by the symbol [ə]. The sound [ə] is called neutral, since it does not have a distinct color. It resembles the unstressed sound “a” at the end of the Russian word “room”.

In the Russian words below, the underlined unstressed vowels “a” resemble the English neutral sound [ə]

Now pay attention to the pronunciation of English words with a neutral vowel [ə]:

On the letter the sound [ə] is transmitted: - by a combination of letters or[ou a:], er[i:a:], ar[ei a:], standing at the end of a word and pronounced without stress: paper, letter, better, doctor, dollar. - letter A V unstressed position at the beginning and at the end of a word it also conveys the sound [ə]: delta, again, attend.

Sound [I]

When pronouncing a short vowel sound [i], the tip of the tongue is at the lower teeth, the lips are slightly stretched. The English sound [i] is similar to the Russian sound "i" in an unstressed position in the phrase "that's the story." Before the sounds [m, n, l], the sound [i] is slightly lengthened, and before the voiceless consonants [p, t, k, s] it is pronounced very briefly.

Compare:

In the words given below it sounds short sound[i]:

On the letter the sound [i] is indicated by: - ​​the letter II[ ai ] if followed by one or more consonants: pin, tip, fill, miss, ill. The word live [liv] is an exception. - in an unstressed position in a word, the letter e conveys the short sound [i]: eleven.