Decoding the letter T

The letter T, lowercase t (pronounced /tiː/) normally represents IPA phoneme /t/. For examples see IPA phoneme /t/.

Silent T[edit]

• Exceptionally "t" can be silent.

• castle, Christmas, fasten, listen, mustn't, mortgage, often, whistle

• In many words of French origin final "t" is silent

• ballet, buffet, cabaret, gourmet, valet, tarot
• fillet, filet^AmE /ˈfɪlɪt,^BrE fɪˈleɪ^AmE/, Chick-fil-A /ˌtʃɪk fɪˈleɪ/

• "tth" as /θ/: Matthew (the spelling "Mathew" also exists)^[1]

• Variant pronunciations

• postpone /pəʊstˈpəʊn, pəʊsˈpəʊn, pəsˈpəʊn^BrE/

T in combinations[edit]

• "tch" as /tʃ/: catch, kitchen, match, pitch, stretch, switch, watch
• "te" as /tʃ/: righteous /ˈraɪtʃəs/
• "th": see Decoding exercises: "th"
• "ti" followed by a vowel

• in many cases it sounds /ʃ/

• as "tio": action - condition - definition - depression - education - function - generation - information - location - mention - nation - option - question - rational - station - tradition - variation
• as "tia": essential - initial - initiative - partial - potential - substantial
• as "tie": patience - patient - quotient

• "ti" as /tʃ/: Christian - combustion - congestion - digestion - question - suggestion
• "ti" as /ʒ/: equation
• of course there is "ti" as /tɪ/ or /tiː/: activities - cities - parties - tiara

• "tie" as /tɪə/: frontier

• "tu"

• "tu" as /tʃuː/: actual - situation
• "tu" as /tʃə/: century - cultural - eventually - natural
• "tu" as /dʒuː/ or /dʒə/: congratulate /kənˈgrætʃəˌleɪt/ or sometimes /kənˈgrædʒəˌleɪt/^AmE
• "tu" as /tjuː/ or /tuː/^AmE (exception to the exception): constitution - costume - gratitude - gratuitous - institution - intuition - magnitude - multitude - Neptune - obtuse
• "ture"

• as /tʃər/: adventure - capture - culture - feature - future - nature - furniture - future - literature - manufacture - picture - structure - temperature
• as /tʃʊər/: mature

• "tz" as /ts/

pretzel, Pulitzer, quartz, Switzerland, waltz /wɔːls, wɔːlts/

References[edit]