L'interface est traduite, mais les explications de cette page sont encore rédigées en anglais — le texte pédagogique n'a pas encore été traduit.
Anglais : orthographe → son
English spelling cannot be fully reverse-engineered: it froze around 1500, then the vowels moved (the Great Vowel Shift) and the words kept arriving from French, Latin and Greek with their own habits. What the tracer CAN show: the consonant digraphs are reliable (sh, ch, th, ph, ng, ck), the 'magic e' rule usually works (mad/made, bit/bite, hop/hope), and r colours the vowel before it (car, bird, for). Vowels in unstressed syllables collapse to /ə/ — the single most important thing to know about the sound of English. Transcription here is a British (RP-like) reference; the note column flags American differences. Every vocabulary entry carries a hand-verified transcription — trust that over the tracer.
Suivre un mot
Chaque case est une règle qui se déclenche. Survolez une case (ou ouvrez le tableau) pour voir pourquoi. Les règles s'appliquent dans l'ordre, la première qui correspond gagne — et cet ordre est le système orthographique.
Consonnes et semi-voyelles
| IPA | Spelled | Example |
|---|---|---|
| p | p, pp | pen pɛn pen — Aspirated at the start of a stressed syllable: [pʰ]. |
| b | b, bb | bed bɛd bed |
| t | t, tt, -ed | tea tiː tea — American: [ɾ] between vowels (water, butter). |
| d | d, dd, -ed | dog dɒɡ dog |
| k | c, k, ck, ch (Greek), qu | cat kæt cat |
| ɡ | g, gg, gu | go ɡəʊ go |
| m | m, mm, mb (final) | man mæn man |
| n | n, nn, kn, gn | knife naɪf knife |
| ŋ | ng, n before k | sing sɪŋ sing |
| f | f, ff, ph, gh (laugh) | fish fɪʃ fish |
| v | v, f (of) | very ˈvɛri very |
| θ | th | think θɪŋk think — Tongue between the teeth, no voice. |
| ð | th (function words, between vowels) | this ðɪs this — the, this, that, they, mother, breathe. |
| s | s, ss, c (e,i,y), sc | sun sʌn sun |
| z | z, zz, s (plural after voiced, between vowels) | zoo zuː zoo |
| ʃ | sh, ti (-tion), ci, ssi, ch (French loans) | ship ʃɪp ship |
| ʒ | s (measure), si (vision), ge (beige) | measure ˈmɛʒə measure |
| h | h, wh (who) | house haʊs house |
| t͡ʃ | ch, tch, tu (nature) | church t͡ʃɜːt͡ʃ church |
| d͡ʒ | j, g (e,i,y), dge | judge d͡ʒʌd͡ʒ judge |
| l | l, ll | light laɪt light — Dark [ɫ] at the end of syllables (full, milk). |
| ɹ | r, rr, wr | red ɹɛd red — Silent after vowels in British English (car /kɑː/); pronounced in American. |
| j | y, u (use), ew | yes jɛs yes |
| w | w, wh, u (queen) | water ˈwɔːtə water |
Voyelles
| IPA | Spelled | Example |
|---|---|---|
| ɪ | i, y, e (unstressed) | sit sɪt sit |
| iː | ee, ea, e_e, ie, -y (final, short) | see siː see |
| ɛ | e, ea (bread) | bed bɛd bed |
| æ | a | cat kæt cat — Between /ɛ/ and /a/; mouth wide. |
| ɑː | ar, a (father, bath — British) | car kɑː car |
| ɒ | o, a after w | hot hɒt hot — American: /ɑ/. |
| ɔː | or, aw, au, al, ough (thought) | law lɔː law |
| ʊ | oo (book), u (put), oul (could) | book bʊk book |
| uː | oo, u_e, ew, ou (soup) | food fuːd food |
| ʌ | u, o (son, love), ou (young) | cup kʌp cup |
| ɜː | er, ir, ur, ear (earth), or (word) | bird bɜːd bird — American: /ɝ/ with the r. |
| ə | any unstressed vowel | about əˈbaʊt about — The commonest English vowel. banana = /bəˈnɑːnə/. |
| eɪ | a_e, ai, ay, ei (eight), ea (great) | make meɪk make |
| aɪ | i_e, igh, y, ie (pie), uy (buy) | time taɪm time |
| ɔɪ | oi, oy | boy bɔɪ boy |
| aʊ | ou, ow | house haʊs house |
| əʊ | o_e, oa, ow, o (final) | home həʊm home — American: /oʊ/. |
| ɪə | ear, eer, ere (here) | near nɪə near — American: /ɪr/. |
| eə | air, are (care), ear (bear) | hair heə hair — American: /ɛr/. |
Les règles, dans l'ordre
94 règles. La colonne de gauche est un motif (expression régulière) testé à la position courante dans le mot ; (?=…) regarde devant, (?<=…) regarde derrière, $ est la fin du mot.
| # | Pattern | Sound | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | (?:tion|sion)(?:$| ) | -tion/-sion = /ʃən/ | |
| 2 | ture(?:$| ) | -ture = /t͡ʃə/ (nature, future) | |
| 3 | (?<=^(?:[hmwb]|sh|w))e(?:$| ) | he, me, we, be, she = /iː/ | |
| 4 | (?<=^th)e(?:$| ) | the = /ðə/ (before consonants) | |
| 5 | (?<=^[a-z])y(?:$| ) | by, my = /aɪ/ | |
| 6 | y(?:$| ) | final -y after a consonant = /i/ (happy, city) | |
| 7 | (?<=^[td])o(?:$| ) | to, do = /uː/ | |
| 8 | o(?:$| ) | final o = /əʊ/ (go, no, so) | |
| 9 | (?<=^[cs])ome(?:$| ) | come, some = /ʌm/ (exceptions to magic e) | |
| 10 | (?<=l|gl|d|ab)ove(?:$| ) | love, glove, dove, above = /ʌv/ | |
| 11 | (?<=^)one(?:$| ) | one = /wʌn/ | |
| 12 | (?<=ou)se(?:$| ) | house, mouse: voiceless s | |
| 13 | (?<=[aeiouy])se(?:$| ) | vowel + se at the end = /z/ (cheese, rose, these) | |
| 14 | a(?=[bcdfgklmnprstvz]e(?:$| )) | magic e: a_e = /eɪ/ (make, name) | |
| 15 | i(?=[bcdfgklmnprstvz]e(?:$| )) | magic e: i_e = /aɪ/ (time, like) | |
| 16 | o(?=[bcdfgklmnprstvz]e(?:$| )) | magic e: o_e = /əʊ/ (home, nose) | |
| 17 | u(?=[bcdfgklmnprstvz]e(?:$| )) | magic e: u_e = /juː/ (cute, use) | |
| 18 | e(?=[bcdfgklmnprstvz]e(?:$| )) | magic e: e_e = /iː/ (these, scene) | |
| 19 | (?<=[^aeiou])e(?:$| ) | final e after a consonant is silent | |
| 20 | tch | ||
| 21 | ch | ch = /t͡ʃ/ (school, chef are exceptions) | |
| 22 | sh | ||
| 23 | (?<=^)th(?=e|is|at|ey|em|ere|an|en|ose|us) | th in function words = voiced /ð/ (the, this, that, they) | |
| 24 | th | th = /θ/ (thin, think); /ð/ between vowels (mother) | |
| 25 | ph | ||
| 26 | wh(?=o) | who, whole = /h/ | |
| 27 | wh | ||
| 28 | ck | ||
| 29 | (?<=^| )kn | silent k: knife, know | |
| 30 | (?<=^| )wr | silent w: write, wrong | |
| 31 | (?<=^| )gn | silent g: gnome | |
| 32 | (?<=m)b(?=$| ) | silent b: lamb, climb | |
| 33 | igh | igh = /aɪ/ (night, light) | |
| 34 | gh(?=t) | silent gh before t (eight, caught) | |
| 35 | qu | ||
| 36 | ng(?=$| |[^aeiou]) | ng at the end of a syllable = /ŋ/ (no g!) | |
| 37 | n(?=k) | ||
| 38 | dge | ||
| 39 | c(?=[eiy]) | c before e/i/y = /s/ | |
| 40 | c | ||
| 41 | g(?=[eiy]) | g before e/i/y = /d͡ʒ/ (get, give are exceptions) | |
| 42 | g | ||
| 43 | j | ||
| 44 | (?<=^| )x | ||
| 45 | x | ||
| 46 | (?<=[bdgvmnlrwy])s(?=$| ) | plural/3rd-person s after a voiced sound = /z/ | |
| 47 | ss | ||
| 48 | ll | ||
| 49 | tt | ||
| 50 | pp | ||
| 51 | nn | ||
| 52 | mm | ||
| 53 | rr | ||
| 54 | dd | ||
| 55 | bb | ||
| 56 | ff | ||
| 57 | gg | ||
| 58 | zz | ||
| 59 | air | ||
| 60 | ear(?![aeiou]) | ear = /ɪə/ (near, hear); bear, earth are exceptions | |
| 61 | eer | ||
| 62 | ar(?![aeiouy]) | ar = /ɑː/ (car, park) | |
| 63 | or(?![aeiouy]) | or = /ɔː/ (for, short) | |
| 64 | er(?:$| ) | final -er = /ə/ (teacher, water) | |
| 65 | (?:er|ir|ur)(?![aeiouy]) | er/ir/ur = /ɜː/ (bird, nurse, her) | |
| 66 | (?<=[aeiou])r(?=$| ) | final r after a vowel is silent (British) | |
| 67 | r | ||
| 68 | ee | ||
| 69 | ea | ea = /iː/ (eat, tea); bread, great are exceptions | |
| 70 | (?<=g|h|st|w)ood(?:$| ) | good, hood, stood, wood = /ʊd/ (but food, mood = /uːd/) | |
| 71 | oo(?=k(?:$| )) | oo before k = /ʊ/ (book, look, cook) | |
| 72 | oo | oo = /uː/ (food, moon) | |
| 73 | ou | ou = /aʊ/ (house, out); soup, young are exceptions | |
| 74 | ow(?=n|l|$| ) | ow at the end = /əʊ/ (show, low); cow, now are exceptions | |
| 75 | ow | ||
| 76 | oa | ||
| 77 | (?:ai|ay) | ||
| 78 | (?:oi|oy) | ||
| 79 | (?:aw|au) | ||
| 80 | ew | ||
| 81 | ie(?:$| ) | ||
| 82 | ie | ||
| 83 | alk(?:$| ) | alk: l is silent (talk, walk) | |
| 84 | a(?=ll(?:$| )) | all = /ɔːl/ | |
| 85 | (?<=w)a(?=[^aeiou]) | a after w = /ɒ/ (want, wash) | |
| 86 | y(?=[aeiou]) | ||
| 87 | y | ||
| 88 | a(?:$| ) | ||
| 89 | a | ||
| 90 | e | ||
| 91 | i | ||
| 92 | o | ||
| 93 | u | ||
| 94 | [pbtdkfvszmnlhw] |