IPA symbols for English consonants

letter = letter of English orthography

symbol = IPA symbol

The IPA symbols represent exactly the same sound every time they're used. They'll never change their value depending on the context they're used in. For example, in English spelling, the letters p and t usually represent the sounds [p] and [t], but when they're followed by an h, the combinations usually represent the sounds [f] and [θ] or [ð]. In IPA, a [p] symbol always represents a [p]-sound. The sequence [ph] can only represent a [p] sound followed by an [h] sound, as in uphold [ʌphold].

English often uses a double consonant, such as tt or nn, to represent what is really a single sound. In IPA transcriptions, a double symbol can only mean two identical sounds in a row -- something which is quite rare in English and which will only occur if one of the sounds belongs to a prefix or suffix.