The alphabet has a total of 40 letters divided into 9 vowels and 31 consonants. Four consonants are not used natively in standard American English. There are also at least 10 more vowel combinations called diphthongs and triphthongs that occur frequently in English. Syllabic consonants are indicated with an acute accent.
| Letter | Category | Usage |
| A a | vowel | A as in hat or act |
| Å å | vowel | A as in father |
| B b | consonant-voiced | B as in bat |
| C c | consonant-voiceless | C as in cat, K as in trek, used before consonants and at the end of words |
| Ĉ ĉ | consonant-voiceless | CH as in chart (equivalent to TŠ, tš) |
| D d | consonant-voiced | D as in dog |
| Ð ð | consonant-voiced | TH as in the, they, mother, father, or weather, |
| E e | vowel | E as in met or elf |
| F f | consonant-voiceless | F as in fat, PH as in phonetic |
| G g | consonant-voiced | G as in goldfish |
| Ĝ ĝ | consonant-voiced | G as in geography, J as in kanji (equivalent to DŽ dž) |
| H h | consonant-voiceless | H as in house |
| I i | vowel | I as in with, Y as in myth |
| J j | vowel | EE as in greed, I as in kanji, Y as in penny |
| K k | consonant-voiceless | C as in cat, K as in trek, used only before vowels |
| L l | consonant-voiced | L as in lantern |
| Ł ł | consonant-voiceless | L as in Tlaxicala or LH as in the Klingon consonant tlh |
| M m | consonant-voiced | M as in mackerel |
| N n | consonant-voiced | N as in no |
| Ŋ ŋ | consonant-voiced | NG as in thing, N as in ink |
| O o | vowel | O as in cobra |
| Ø ø | vowel | OO as in book, U as in bush |
| P p | consonant-voiceless | P as in park |
| Q q | consonant-voiceless | Aspirated, non-palatized K sound found mostly in Scottish English. CH as in loch. German CH. |
| R r | consonant-voiced | R as in roll or or |
| Ř ř | consonant-voiced | Rolled or trilled R as in Spanish. |
| S ſ s | consonant-voiceless | S as in saw |
| Š š | consonant-voiceless | SH as in shark |
| Ц ц | consonant-voiceless | TS as in tsunami, CE as in once |
| T t | consonant-voiceless | T as in talk |
| Þ þ | consonant-voiceless | TH as in think, path, or with |
| U u | vowel | U as in under, A and O as in above, E as in the (IPA letter ə) |
| Ü ü | vowel | U as in tune, O as in to, and OO as in too |
| V v | consonant-voiced | V as in victuals |
| W w | consonant-voiced | W as in well (not as in cow) |
| Ƕ ƕ | consonant-voicless | WH as in wheat (in some places) |
| X x | consonant-voiceless | Guttural H (not found in English). Similar to German CH but rougher, sounds like hacking something up. |
| Y y | consonant-voiced | Y as in yard |
| Z z | consonant-voiced | Z as in zebra |
| Ž ž | consonant-voiced | S as in leisure or measure |
| Vowel Combination | Category | Usage |
| AO ao | diphthong | OW as in power or cow |
| AOU aou | triphthong | OU as in flour when the word flour is pronounced as one syllable (usually only before L or R) |
| ÅJ åj | diphthong | I as in swine, IE as in tie or pie |
| ÅJU åju | triphthong | I as in fire (when fire is pronounced as one syllable), AI as in aisle (usually only before L or R) |
| EJ ej | diphthong | EI as in neighbor, EY as in they, AY as in pay, AI as in pain |
| EJU eju | triphthong | A as in care (usually only before L or R) |
| JU ju | diphthong | EA as in fear (usually only before L or R) |
| OJ oj | diphthong | OI as in joint, OY as in toy |
| OJU oju | triphthong | OI as in oil or toil (usually only before L or R) |
| OU ou, or Ò ò | diphthong | O as in for (usually only before L or R) |
| English Spelling | Eŋgliš Funetic Speliŋ |
| With a sharp knife, take assail When money's plenty for thy bail. |
Wiþ u šårp nåjf, tejc usejul Hwen munjz pluntj fòr ðåj bejul. |
| Today is a good day to die. | Tüdej iz u gød dej tü dåj. |
| &Luml; | |