Vowels and Diphthongs
The phonetic symbols for English vowels, short and long, and the double vowels called diphthongs.
ː ලකුණ තිබ්බොත් ඒ vowel එක දිගට කියන්න ඕනේ. ඉංග්රීසියේ ගොඩක්ම එන sound එක ə: ඒක හරියට ලිහිල්, කෙටි අ එකක් වගේ. Diphthong එකක් කියන්නේ එක vowel එකකින් පටන් අරන් තව එකකට ලිස්සලා යන sound එකක්.
In class I tell students: consonants make you understood, vowels make you sound natural. If you say ship when you mean sheep, people will usually guess from the sentence. But getting the vowels right is what makes your English easy to listen to.
In the tables, I sometimes write .අ. That dot means a relaxed, short අ, said with your mouth almost closed, not the full අ in අම්මා.
Short vowels
Say these quickly. Don't hold them.
| Symbol | Closest Sinhala | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ɪ | ඉ | ship |
| i | ඉ | happy |
| e | එ | head |
| æ | ඇ | hat |
| ʌ | අ | cup |
| ɒ | ඔ | sock |
| ʊ | උ | foot |
| u | උ | situation |
| ə | .අ | about, mother |
/ə/ is the most common sound in English. It hides in almost every long word, in the parts you don't stress: banana is /bəˈnɑːnə/, with two of them.
Long vowels
The ː means "hold it". Count one-two in your head.
| Symbol | Closest Sinhala | Example |
|---|---|---|
| iː | ඊ | sheep |
| ɑː | ආ | father |
| ɔː | ඕ, mouth round | horse |
| uː | ඌ | blue |
| ɜː | .අ: | bird |
Short or long?
- ship /ʃɪp/ · sheep /ʃiːp//ɪ/ or /iː/
- full /fʊl/ · fool /fuːl//ʊ/ or /uː/
- cup /kʌp/ · card /kɑːd//ʌ/ or /ɑː/
- slip /slɪp/ · sleep /sliːp//ɪ/ or /iː/
Diphthongs: two vowels in one
A diphthong starts on one vowel and slides to another, in one beat. Sinhala has two of these already: ඓ and ඖ.
| Symbol | Closest Sinhala | Example |
|---|---|---|
| eɪ | එඉ | day |
| aɪ | ඓ | eye |
| ɔɪ | ඔඉ | boy |
| aʊ | ඖ | mouth |
| əʊ | .අඋ, close to ඕ | nose (British) |
| oʊ | ඔඋ, close to ඕ | nose (American) |
| ɪə | ඉ.අ | ear |
| eə | එ.අ | hair |
| ʊə | උ.අ | pure |
Many of us say day as a flat ඩේ. Try ඩෙඉ, sliding from එ to ඉ, and you'll hear the difference right away.
Three in a row
These slide through three vowels. Say them smoothly, without a break in the middle.
| Symbol | Closest Sinhala | Example |
|---|---|---|
| aɪə | ඓ.අ | fire |
| aʊə | ඖ.අ | hour |
American English: the r sound
In British English, the r after a vowel is silent: bird is /bɜːd/. In American English you hear it, and dictionaries show that with a little hook:
| Symbol | Closest Sinhala | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ɝː | .අ:(ර්) | bird (American) |
| ɚ | .අ(ර්) | mother (American) |
Both are fine. Pick one style and keep to it. Most of us in Sri Lanka learnt the British one at school.
Looking for the consonants? They are on the consonants page.
Quick check
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Which one is sheep?
Which symbol is the first sound in about?
Which diphthong is in eye?
How is fool different from full?
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