Basic Irish Letters

Vowels
Letter	IPA	Valve Phoneme	Phonetic Example
a	/a/	AA	father, spa
á	/ɑ:/	AO	call, far
e	/ɛ/	EH	tell, get
é	/e:/	EY	bait, pay
i	/ɪ/	IH	in, hit
í	/i:/	IY	tree, mean, he
o	/ɔ/	AH	tug, wonder
ó	/o:/	OW	roll, toe, road
u	/ʌ/	UH	good, pull
ú	/u:/	UW	too, rude

Broad Consonants
Letter	IPA	Valve Phoneme	Phonetic Example	Notes
b	/bˠ/	B	broom, boy
c	/k/	K	cut, key
d	/d̪ˠ/	D	do, under
f	/fˠ/	??	??
g	/ɡ/	G	goo, egg
h	/h/	HH	honey, hello	Neither broad nor slender
l	/l/; also frequently /l̪ˠ/	??	??
ll	/l̪ˠ/	??	??
m	/mˠ/	M	moo, woman
n	/nˠ/; also frequently /n̪ˠ/	N	not, under
p	/pˠ/	??	??
r	/ɾˠ/	??	??	always broad word-initially; always broad in rd, rl, rn, rr, rs, rt, rth, sr
s	/sˠ/	??	??
t	/t̪ˠ/	??	??
v	/w/~/vˠ/	??	??	loan consonant
z	/zˠ/	??	??	loan consonant

Slender Consonants
Letter	IPA	Valve Phoneme	Phonetic Example	Notes
b	/bʲ/	??	??
c	/c/	??	??
d	/dʑ/	??	??	/dʲ/ in other dialects
f	/fʲ/	??	??
g	/ɟ/	??	??
h	/h/	HH	honey, hello	Neither broad nor slender
l	/lʲ/	??	??
ll	/l̪ʲ/; also frequently /lʲ/	??	??
m	/mʲ/	??	??
n	/nʲ/	N Y	sinew
p	/pʲ/	??	??
r	/ɾʲ/	??	??	always broad word-initially; always broad in rd, rl, rn, rr, rs, rt, rth, sr
s	/ɕ/	??	??	/ʃ/ in other dialects
t	/tʲ/	??	??
v	/vʲ/	??	??	loan consonant
z	/ʑ/	??	??	loan consonant; /ʒ/ in other dialects