How many letters in the English alphabet and how to read them

So is it important to know how many letters in the English alphabet? In this article we will give an answer to this question, and also highlight other important points.

Interesting to know

In this alphabet are 26 characters, and for comparison in Russian - 33. The most used letter of the English alphabet is E, the least is Z.

Reading abbreviations

We will acquaint ourselves with the rules of pronouncing the most popular combinations.

The simplest group are the abbreviations, which are pronounced according to the names of the symbols. This includes not only the BBC (BBC), but also USA (USA), EU (I-Yu), UK (Yu-Kay), HIV (HA- In and). Spell the complex abbreviations used to organize information. Some are pronounced according to their origin, that is, in Latin.

Another common group is acronyms. Such abbreviations are pronounced according to the initial sounds of the names of the symbols. There are abbreviations-abbreviations, which are those only on the letter. They are pronounced as full words, for example, St. (Street - street), Dr.. Doctor - Doctor.

How Vowels Sound

Answering the question: "How many letters in the English alphabet?" - we will specify that there are only six vowels: A, E, I, Y, U, O. But there are many more options for reading them. This is affected by stress, combination with other letters and its position (open or closed syllable).

There are four types of their pronunciation:

1. The vowels of the English alphabet in the open syllable are read in exactly the same way as the letters are called.
2. In a closed syllable they are short and expressive: A - wide deep "e", E - narrow "e", I - "and", Y - "and", U - "a", O - "o".
3. If there is an "R" after a vowel, then it becomes almost throaty. For example, "ar", as in the word star. It is more difficult with that sound, which gives E, I, Y, U, after which there is an "r". Many replace it with Russian "e", but this is a gross mistake.
4. Finally, the same symbols can be read as a few in combination "vowel letter" + re, for example, in the words care, here, pure, fire, tyre. These sounds are better to listen to, they are easily assimilated.

Consonants

How many letters in the English alphabet were, the main part of it is exactly the consonants. There are 20 of them, they form 23 sounds, 14 of them are ringing and 9 are deaf.

P, b, d, t, f, k, l, m, n, v, z can be heard in the same way in almost any combination, almost analogous to Russian n, b, d, t, f, k, l, m, n, H. Why almost? Because many of them have features of pronunciation that make it possible to clearly distinguish them.

"C" and "G" have two options for reading . Before the vowels "A", "U", "O" they sound like the Russian "K" and "G". In all other cases, like "C" and "J". But it should be borne in mind that there are exceptions.

"H" is pronounced "x" at the beginning of the words before the vowels. But pay special attention to that its articulation is significantly different from the Russian equivalent. Also, this letter helps to form the sounds w, h, f in the combinations sh, ch, ph.

"J" corresponds to our variant "j".

Consonants "Q", "R", "W" do not have Russian analogues, but, as a rule, their sound is reproduced without difficulty after listening to audio materials in English. Also, there is no difficulty in reading the letter "X", which always corresponds to the diphthong "ks". Although it is worth paying special attention to the "R". In her pronunciation, mistakes are often made.

"S" depending on the position may have two of our options - "C" and "Z". The second type is acquired after other voiced, as well as between vowels. As you can see, the answer to the question of how many letters in the English alphabet is much deeper than a simple arithmetic calculation.