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Read this page once before the rules. It explains how to use the audio, how to read the sound spellings, and the words used for sounds.
Use the 🔊 buttons to hear the Standard English examples, and practise those. American clips are marked "for comparison". For more listening, use the 'UK' recordings in the Cambridge Dictionary and Oxford Learner's Dictionaries. Follow this guide's recordings during the exercises.
How to read the sound spellings
The vowel spellings use familiar Kinyarwanda sounds as starting points, rather than exact matches. Listen to the recording for the target sound and length. Two different vowels written together suggest a glide from the first to the second (ai, ei, au, əu). Consonants are read as in English.
The stressed syllable is bold on a yellow highlight: woo-tə. Say it louder, longer and on a higher note than the other syllables.
Words and sound names used in this guide
Standard English in this guide means British Received Pronunciation (RP). The sounds below are defined by what your mouth does, so you can check them yourself.
| Name | Meaning | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Vowel | The air flows out freely, with nothing blocking it: a, e, i, o, u and the sounds between them. | the a in 'car' |
| Consonant | Your tongue, teeth or lips block the air or make it narrow. | t, r, l, n |
| Syllable | One beat of a word. Each syllable has one vowel sound. | twen-ti has 2 syllables |
| Full t | The tongue tip presses on the ridge behind your top teeth and stops the air completely. You feel the pressure build, then you release it. | Standard English water (woo-tə), ten, top |
| Tapped t | The tongue tip makes very brief contact with the ridge. It sounds like d, or like the Kinyarwanda r. | American water (waa-dər) |
| l | The tongue tip presses on the ridge behind your top teeth and stays there for the whole sound, while the air flows out over the sides of the tongue. | light, load |
| English r | The tongue tip stays clear of the ridge and roof of your mouth; the sides may rest against your upper back teeth. The lips are pushed forward and slightly rounded, less than for w. | right, road |
| ə | The tongue lies flat in the middle of the mouth, the jaw is half open and the lips stay in their normal position. Short. | the first sound in 'about' |
| Long vowel | Written with a double letter (aa, ii, oo, uu, əə). Hold the vowel longer and match the recording; its sound also differs from the short vowel. | sheep (shiip), work (wəək) |
| Stress | The syllable you say louder, longer and higher. Shown bold on a yellow highlight. | twen-ti |