WHAT IS THE PHONETICS OF THE LETTER N IN ENGLISH?

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Unlike what happens with other letters in English, with the pronunciation of the letter N we are lucky because it is very similar to the pronunciation we use in Spanish. In this article we will show you some words as examples so you can expand your vocabulary.

At ABA English we love helping you improve your pronunciation because we know it is one of the most mentioned needs by those who want to learn or are learning English. That is why we have developed exercises like  speaking to help you know and practice the correct pronunciation in English.

THE ENGLISH PHONETICS OF THE LETTER N

The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) lists the phonemes we need to represent the sounds of English pronunciation. Being able to interpret these phonemes is one of the most important tools to master English phonetics and know how a word is pronounced. In this case they will give you the necessary instructions to pronounce the letter N in each word.
WHAT IS THE PHONETICS OF THE LETTER N IN ENGLISH?

The phonetic transcription of the letter N in English

As we told you, knowing how to pronounce the letter N in English is not very complicated. First, the letter N, whose phonetic transcription is /n/, is pronounced ‘en’ when it is alone. When you see it in a word it will always sound like it does in Spanish, like the N in ‘nena’ or ‘pan’.

Let’s look at some examples of words in English. Let’s start with new which means ‘nuevo’ and has this phonetic transcription: /njuː/. Its pronunciation will be ‘niu’, with an N identical to Spanish. The same happens if the N is in the middle or at the end of the word like in doing (doing), /ˈduː·ɪŋ/, and sin (sin), /sɪn/. There are very few exceptions where the N is silent, this is the case of autumn (autumn), /ˈɔː·təm/, pronounced ‘otom’.

HOW TO IMPROVE YOUR PRONUNCIATION IN ENGLISH

To practice the pronunciation of the letter N we suggest you start with the example words you have in this post. You can add noun (noun), /naʊn/ and lean (lean), /liːn/, to expand your vocabulary.

We suggest you pay attention to the pronunciation used by native speakers for these words and others that contain the letter N so you can start recognizing the correct way to say them.

To finish perfecting your pronunciation a good exercise is to record yourself saying the same words you hear in movies or songs and then listen to the recording to see if you need to improve your pronunciation.

 

WHAT IS THE PHONETICS OF THE LETTER N IN ENGLISH?

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