Consonants are the letters in English that are not vowels. Consonants include letters like b, c, d, f, and g. Consonants can be voiced or voiceless. Voiced consonants use the vocal chords. Vocal chords are the part of your throat that vibrates (shakes) when you talk. Voiceless consonants do not use the vocal chords.
Consonants
| voiceless | p pat |
f fat |
th thin |
t tame |
s sap |
ch chug |
sh push |
k came |
h hope |
| voiced | b bat |
v vat |
th the |
d dame |
z zap |
j jug |
zh vision |
g game |
|
| + nose (voiced) |
m mat |
n name |
ng sing |
It’s important to know which consonants are voiced and which consonants are voiceless. If you know this information, you can learn many useful rules.
Other voiced consonants are l, r, q, w, and y..
- l light
- r right
- q (k+w) quite
- w white
- y yet
X can be voiced or voiceless, depending on nearby sounds. Usually, if there is no sound or a voiceless sound after x, the x sounds like k+s. If there is a voiced sound after x, the x usually sounds like k+z.
x (k+s or k+z) boxes, auxiliary