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About Irish Consonants Chart
Need to know what are the consonants when it comes to Irish language? In articulatory phonetics, the Irish consonant is actually a speech sound that’s articulated using complete or perhaps partial closure in the vocal system. The term consonant can be used to make reference to a letter of the Irish alphabet which signifies a consonant sound. Learn More
Irish Consonants Chart
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Irish Consonants in Alphabet
| Consonant combinations with h are sometimes written with a dot (séimhiú, shay-VOO) on the letter instead of the h and are sometimes silent. All consonants have two versions called caol (narrow, palatalized) and leathan (wide, velarized) (except for h, which is neither palatalized or velarized); this is indicated in writing by adjacent vowels. | |
| As a rule, if the nearest vowel is a, o, or u, the consonant is broad. If the nearest vowel is e or i, it is slender. | |
| b | like bed |
| bh | like W sound when broad; like a V sound when slender |
| c | like kid when broad; like the ty in Hungarian when slender (does not occur in English) |
| ch | as in Scottish 'loch' when broad; as in German ich when slender |
| d | like dog but sometimes slightly softer, like the Icelandic ð or th in them, often like the English 'j' when followed by an 'e' or 'i' |
| dh | voiced h sound when broad, y when slender; sometimes vague gh sound (Munster dialect especially), always silent after long vowels |
| f | like fun |
| fh | silent (except in Ulster, where it's said like an h) |
| g | like go when broad; like the gy in Hungarian when slender (does not occur in English, with the closest approximation probably being the d in the French dure) |
| gh | see dh |
| h | like help |
| l | like lean |
| m | like mother |
| mh | same as bh but slightly softer |
| n | like nice |
| ng | like sing when broad and word initial (follow with a broad g otherwise); like onion when slender and word initial (follow with a slender g otherwise) |
| p | like pig |
| ph | like phone or whom |
| r | rolled or flapped |
| s | like soon when broad; like sheen when slender |
| sh | like hear |
| t | like th in 'the', or occasionally like t in 'tin', depending on its placement in the word; sometimes pronounced as the English 'ch' in China when slender |
| th | like hear |
Irish Diphthongs in Alphabet
| Diphthongs are generally irregular and can be learned only by experience. For example, 'ai' in "Corcaigh" (the city and county of Cork) is pronounced like the 'i' in "dig" but the 'ai' in "faic" (nothing) is pronounced like the 'a' in "hack", and the 'ai' in "haigh!" (hi!, transliteration of a loan-word) is pronounced like the 'i' in "high". |
Click on the links directly below to see a list of helpful Irish travel phrases which you’ll find sorted by category. For each travel word or phrase in Irish, you will see the English interpretation.
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