IPA symbols for English consonants

		paper
		stop
		baby
		bomb
		tea
		mitt
		dead
		madly
		cake
		crack
		quick
		get
		give
		rogue
		fluff
		photograph
		vote
		leave
		thick
		thought
		bath
		this
		mother
		bathe
		sake
		peace, piece
		sell, cell
		zone
		lazy
		nose, knows
		show
		sugar
		machine
		nation
		pleasure
		rouge
		lesion
		garage %
		chicken
		lecture
		which
		judge
		gym, Jim
		miss
		simmer
		when
		nose, knows
		thing
		singer
		finger
		bank
		leave
		sell, cell
		real
		grow
		far %
		weave
		when %
		yes
		yellow
		cute
		happy
		who

Notes

Even for these, though, you have to be careful: they represent exactly the same sound every time they are used. They're never going to change their value depending on the context they're used in. For example, in English spelling, p and t usually represent [p] and [t], but not when they're followed by an h -- in which case, they usually represent [f] and or . In IPA, a [p] always represent a [p]-sound. The sequence [ph] can only represent a [p] sound followed by an [h] sound, as in uphold .

Many other consonant symbols are also very much like at one way they are used in English. But once again used entirely consistently, where the English letter often represents two or more different sounds.

• The sound at the beginning and end of kick is always represented by [k], even though English spelling often represents it in several different ways: k, c, ck, q, etc.
• The symbol always represents the initial sound of get, never the "soft-g" at the beginning of gem. (Technically, this symbol should always be done in a hand-printed style, even though most people are too lazy to fight their computers to get it that way.)
• English s often represents [s], [z], and (especially when followed by h) . IPA always uses different symbols for these sounds.
• [n] is always the sound at the start of now. It is never the sound English spells with the combination ng, which is represented by the symbol .
• [h] is always as in happy. It never changes its value if put after another consonant and it is never "silent".

The symbol [j] represents the y sound, the way it does in German and a few other languages.

The other symbols were borrowed from some other alphabet or else created by modifying an existing letter in some way:

• is the Greek letter "theta". The name of the symbol is pronounced .
• used to be a letter in the Old English or Anglo-Saxon alphabet. It still is in Icelandic. The name of the symbol is usually pronounced .
• is an elongated "s", much like the "integral" symbol used in mathematics. It is usually called "esh".
• is usually called "ezh" (but sometimes "yogh"). The symbol was often used in Old Irish and Old English manuscripts.
• is a regular [r] turned upside-down. The rightside-up [r] represents a rolled or trilled sound, as in Spanish.
• is an [n], with a long tail like . It is usually called "eng" (or sometimes "angma").