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🔤 The English Alphabet — The English alphabet has 26 letters: 5 vowels (A, E, I, O, U) and 21 consonants. Learning the correct pronunciation of each letter is the first step to mastering English. This lesson covers the letter names and their sounds with pronunciation guides in Urdu and English.

🔊 Click the Listen button next to each letter or sound to hear the pronunciation using Text-to-Speech.

💡 Key Rule: The pronunciation of a letter in the alphabet (its "name") is often different from the sound it makes in words. For example, the letter "A" is pronounced "ay" in the alphabet but makes the sound "a" (like in "cat") in words.

🔤 The English Alphabet (A–Z)

The 26 letters of the English alphabet with pronunciation in Urdu and English.

# Letter Pronunciation (English) تلفظ (Urdu) Meaning (English) معنی (Urdu) Audio
1 A ay اے letter حرف
2 B bee بی letter حرف
3 C see سی letter حرف
4 D dee ڈی letter حرف
5 E ee ای letter حرف
6 F eff ایف letter حرف
7 G gee جی letter حرف
8 H aitch ایچ letter حرف
9 I eye آئی letter حرف
10 J jay جے letter حرف
11 K kay کے letter حرف
12 L el ایل letter حرف
13 M em ایم letter حرف
14 N en این letter حرف
15 O oh او letter حرف
16 P pee پی letter حرف
17 Q cue کیو letter حرف
18 R ar آر letter حرف
19 S ess ایس letter حرف
20 T tee ٹی letter حرف
21 U you یو letter حرف
22 V vee وی letter حرف
23 W double-u ڈبل-یو letter حرف
24 X ex ایکس letter حرف
25 Y why وائی letter حرف
26 Z zee زی letter حرف

📌 Vowels: A, E, I, O, U (sometimes Y)  |  Consonants: All other letters

🔑 Tip: The letter "Y" can function as both a vowel (in words like "myth") and a consonant (in words like "yes").

🔊 Vowel Sounds (Short & Long)

English has 5 vowel letters but many more vowel sounds. Here are the most common short and long vowel sounds.

/æ/
cat, hat, apple
Short A — like the "a" in "cat"
مختصر اے — جیسے "کیٹ" میں
/eɪ/
cake, make, day
Long A — like the "a" in "cake"
لمبا اے — جیسے "کیک" میں
/ɛ/
bed, pen, red
Short E — like the "e" in "bed"
مختصر ای — جیسے "بیڈ" میں
/iː/
see, tree, eat
Long E — like the "ee" in "see"
لمبا ای — جیسے "سی" میں
/ɪ/
sit, big, fish
Short I — like the "i" in "sit"
مختصر آئی — جیسے "سِٹ" میں
/aɪ/
bike, time, eye
Long I — like the "i" in "bike"
لمبا آئی — جیسے "بائیک" میں
/ɒ/
hot, dog, box
Short O — like the "o" in "hot"
مختصر او — جیسے "ہاٹ" میں
/oʊ/
go, home, boat
Long O — like the "o" in "go"
لمبا او — جیسے "گو" میں
/ʌ/
cup, sun, bus
Short U — like the "u" in "cup"
مختصر یو — جیسے "کپ" میں
/juː/
cute, music, few
Long U — like the "u" in "cute"
لمبا یو — جیسے "کیوٹ" میں

🗣️ Common Consonant Sounds

Here are some English consonant sounds that Urdu speakers often find challenging.

/ð/
this, that, mother
Voiced TH — like the "th" in "this"
آواز دار تھ — جیسے "ذس" میں
/θ/
think, three, bath
Unvoiced TH — like the "th" in "think"
بغیر آواز کا تھ — جیسے "تھنک" میں
/ʃ/
she, fish, ship
SH sound — like the "sh" in "she"
ش کی آواز — جیسے "شی" میں
/tʃ/
chair, child, watch
CH sound — like the "ch" in "chair"
چ کی آواز — جیسے "چیئر" میں
/dʒ/
jump, bridge, age
J sound — like the "j" in "jump"
ج کی آواز — جیسے "جمپ" میں
/v/
very, never, love
V sound — like the "v" in "very"
وی کی آواز — جیسے "ویری" میں
/w/
water, we, swim
W sound — like the "w" in "water"
ڈبلیو کی آواز — جیسے "واٹر" میں
/r/
red, right, run
R sound — like the "r" in "red"
آر کی آواز — جیسے "ریڈ" میں

📖 Important Rules

🔤 Vowels and Consonants
A, E, I, O, U
Vowels: A, E, I, O, U (and sometimes Y)
Consonants: All other letters

Every English word must have at least one vowel sound.
انگریزی کے ہر لفظ میں کم از کم ایک حرفِ علت ضرور ہوتا ہے۔
🔇 Silent Letters
knee, write, hour
Silent letters are written but not pronounced.
• k is silent in "knee" and "know"
• w is silent in "write" and "wrong"
• h is silent in "hour" and "honest"
کچھ حروف لکھے جاتے ہیں مگر بولے نہیں جاتے۔
🔊 Hard vs Soft C and G
cat / city, go / gem
C: Hard (k) before a, o, u — e.g., "cat"
C: Soft (s) before e, i, y — e.g., "city"

G: Hard (g) before a, o, u — e.g., "go"
G: Soft (j) before e, i, y — e.g., "gem"
سی اور جی کی آواز حروفِ علت کے مطابق بدلتی ہے۔
✨ Magic "E" (Silent E)
cap → cape, hop → hope
Magic E makes the previous vowel long.
• cap (short a) → cape (long a)
• hop (short o) → hope (long o)
• kit (short i) → kite (long i)
خاموش ای پچھلے حرفِ علت کو لمبا کر دیتا ہے۔

📝 Practice Tips:

💡 Quick Reference — 5 Vowels:

A
ay
E
ee
I
eye
O
oh
U
you

📌 Y can also be a vowel in words like "myth" and "gym"