There are 20 consonants in English. They are b, c, d, f, g, h, j, k, l, m, n, p, q, r, s, t, v, w, x, z.
Other consonants are ch, ng, qu, sh, th, wh and semivowel y
| Letters | Sounds | Examples |
| b | [b] | baby, best, buy, bring, blind, absent, about, number, labor, robber, tub |
| c | [s] | center, cellar, cigarette, cinema, agency, notice |
| [k] | cake, come, cucumber, clean, cry, scratch, act, panic | |
| d | [d] | day, dear, die, door, duty, admire, hidden, lady, kind, ride, ended |
| f | [f] | fast, female, five, forest, fund, fry, flight, often, deaf, cuff |
| g | [g] | game, gap, get, go, gun, great, global, giggle, ago, begin, dog, egg; |
| [j] | general, gin, giant, agent, suggest, Egypt, energy, huge, manage; | |
| [zh] | mirage, garage, beige, rouge | |
| h | [h] | hair, help, history, home, hotel, hunt, behind, inherit; |
| [-] | hour, honor, honest, heir, vehicle, Sarah | |
| j | [j] | jam, Jane, jet, jelly, Jim, jingle, joke, John, June, just |
| k | [k] | Kate, kind, kill, kilogram, sky, blanket, break, take, look |
| l | [l] | late, let, live, alone, close, slim, please, old, nicely, table, file, all |
| m | [m] | make, men, mind, mother, must, my, common, summer, name, form, team |
| n | [n] | napkin, never, night, no, nuclear, funny, student, kindness, ton, sun |
| p | [p] | paper, person, pick, pour, public, repair, apple, keep, top, crisp |
| q (qu) | [kw] | quality, question, quite, quote, equal, require; |
| [k] | unique, technique, antique, grotesque | |
| r | [r] | rain, red, rise, brief, grow, scream, truck, arrive, hurry, turn, more, car |
| s | [s] | send, simple, song, system, street, lost, kiss, release; |
| [z] | cause, present, reason, realism, advise, always, is, was | |
| t | [t] | task, tell, time, tone, tune, hotel, attentive, student, boat, rest |
| v | [v] | vast, vein, vivid, voice, even, review, invest, give, move, active |
| w | [w] | wall, war, way, west, wind, word, would, swear, swim, twenty, twist |
| x | [ks] | exercise, exchange, expect, ex-wife, axis, fix, relax; |
| [gz] | exam, exact, executive, exert, exist, exit, exult; | |
| [z] | Xenon, Xerox, xenophobia, xylophone | |
| z | [z] | zero, zoo, horizon, puzzle, crazy, organize, quiz, jazz; |
| [ts] | pizza, Mozart, Nazi, waltz |
Note: The letter Y
The letter Y is called semivowel. It can function as a vowel or as a consonant.
As a vowel, Y has the vowel sounds [i], [ai].
As a consonant, Y has the consonant sound [y] (i.e., a semivowel sound), usually at the beginning of the word and only in the syllable before a vowel.
[i]: any, city, carry, funny, mystery, synonym;
[ai]: my, cry, rely, signify, nylon, type;
[y]: yard, year, yes, yet, yield, you.