Irish Consonants Explained
Irish phonology is quite different to that of English and can pose quite a few problems for learners.
There are 18 distinct consonant sounds in Irish. However, every consonant sound in Irish has two distinct pronunciations, often referred to as broad and slender (more on that here).
The aim of this article is to break down how each consonant is pronounced in Irish with audio and examples.
This is an IPA chart of all the consonant sounds which exist in Irish:
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The sound of each consonant
Here is the broad pronunciation of each consonant in Irish. Note that the letter k is not used in Irish and the letter c always has the hard ‘k’ sound (never a ‘s’ sound as in English words like cent).
The letters j, k, q, v, w, x, y, z are not used in the traditional Irish alphabet and where they do appear, they are found in loan words from other languages.
Vowels without a Fada
On the right you can find the pronunciation of the vowels without a fada.
Vowels with a Fada
On the right you can find the pronunciation of the vowels with a fada.
Vowel Reduction
Just as in English, short vowels in Irish will be reduced to a schwa /ə/ when unstressed. Similar to how in English, the second e in the word telephone is reduced to an ‘uh’-ish sound.
Note that vowel reduction does not apply to vowels which carry the fada.
ólann /ˈoːlˠən̪ˠ/
“oh-lunn”
mála /ˈmˠaːlˠə/
“maw-luh”
seisean /ˈʃɛʃənˠ/
“sheh-shun”
Diphthongs
Diphthongs refer to putting two vowel sounds together to create a new vowel sound. The number of diphthongs in Irish varies on dialect, but the generally accepted number found across dialects is five.
/aw/ ~ /əw/
/aj/ ~ /əj/
/ej/
/uə/
/iə/
