The English alphabet and its sounds: Spoken English: Zero to Fluent (Beginner)

English has 26 letters, from A to Z. Five of them are vowels (स्वर): A, E, I, O, U. The other 21 are consonants (व्यंजन). Sometimes Y also works like a vowel, as in "my" and "happy".

Every letter has a name. You use the name when you spell a word aloud, for example on a phone call: "My name is Ravi, R-A-V-I." The letter also has a sound, which you use when you read a word.

Think of it like this: Think of a letter like a person with a name and a voice. The name is what you call them ("ay", "bee"). The voice is how they sound inside a word ("a" in cat, "b" in bus). In Hindi, "क" has the name "ka" and the sound "k" too, but in English the name and the sound are often different.

Letter	Name (how to say it)	Sound in a word
A a	AY	a in "apple"
B b	BEE	b in "bus"
C c	SEE	k in "cat", s in "city"
E e	EE	e in "egg"
G g	JEE	g in "go", j in "giraffe"
H h	AYCH	h in "hat"
I i	AI	i in "ink"
J j	JAY	j in "jam"
O o	OH	o in "orange"
Q q	KYOO	kw in "queen"
R r	AAR	r in "red"
U u	YOO	u in "umbrella"
W w	DUB-ul-yoo	w in "water"
Y y	WAI	y in "yes"
Z z	ZED (India, UK) / ZEE (USA)	z in "zoo"

A, B, C, D, E, F, G

Say it: AY, BEE, SEE, DEE, EE, EF, JEE

ए, बी, सी, डी, ई, एफ़, जी

H, I, J, K, L, M, N

Say it: AYCH, AI, JAY, KAY, EL, EM, EN

एच, आई, जे, के, एल, एम, एन

H is "aych", not "haych". Both are heard in India, but "aych" is the standard.

O, P, Q, R, S, T, U

Say it: OH, PEE, KYOO, AAR, ES, TEE, YOO

ओ, पी, क्यू, आर, एस, टी, यू

V, W, X, Y, Z

Say it: VEE, DUB-ul-yoo, EKS, WAI, ZED

वी, डबल्यू, एक्स, वाई, ज़ेड

V and W are different. For V, touch your top teeth to your lower lip. For W, make your lips round like a small "o".

Spelling your name aloud

My name is Priya. P-R-I-Y-A.

Say it: my NAYM iz PREE-ya. PEE-AAR-AI-WAI-AY

मेरा नाम प्रिया है। पी-आर-आई-वाई-ए।

Could you spell that, please?

Say it: kud yoo SPEL that, pleez?

क्या आप उसकी स्पेलिंग बता सकते हैं?

Use this when you do not understand a name or an email address.

Double L

Say it: DUB-ul EL

दो बार L (जैसे "Bill" में)

When a letter comes twice, say "double": Bill is B-I-double L.

Tip: To avoid mix-ups on the phone, use a word for each letter: "B for Bombay, D for Delhi, M for Mumbai, N for Nagpur." Call centres and banks do this every day.

Careful: Common mistake: saying "Zed" in a US company call. Both are right, but Americans say "zee". If someone looks confused, say "Z, as in zebra".

Capital and small letters

Each letter has a capital form (A, B, C) and a small form (a, b, c). Use a capital letter at the start of a sentence and for names: "Ravi lives in Pune."

Tip: Practise daily: spell your full name, your city and your email address aloud three times. Then spell one word you see on a signboard.

The English alphabet and its sounds

Explanation

Spelling your name aloud

Capital and small letters

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In real life: Spelling a name at a bank counter

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