The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Burmese language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.
See Burmese language#Phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Burmese.
Consonants
IPA
Burmese example
Approximate English equivalent
b ဘဲ [b ɛ́] b at
d ဓာတ် [d aʔ] d ye
dʑ ဂျင် [dʑ ɪ̀ɴ] J ew
ð အညာသား [ʔəɲàð á] [1] th is
ɡ ဂုဏ် [ɡ òuɴ] g ate
h ဟုတ် [h ouʔ] h one
j ယား [j á] y ield
k ကုန် [k òuɴ] sk ate[2]
kʰ
ခုန် [kʰ òuɴ] K ate[3]
l လုပ် [l ouʔ] l ay
l̥ လှုပ် [l̥ ouʔ] pl ay; like /l/ but voiceless
m မတ် [m aʔ] m uch
m̥ မှတ် [m̥ aʔ] None; like /m/ but voiceless
n နမ်း [n áɴ] n ot
n̥ နှမ်း [n̥ áɴ] None; like /n/ but voiceless
ɴ ခံ [kʰaɴ ] lawn or long , but without a complete closure between the tongue and the roof of the mouth [4]
ɲ ညစ် [ɲ ɪʔ] cany on
ɲ̥ ညှစ် [ɲ̥ ɪʔ] None; like /ɲ/ , but voiceless
ŋ ငါး [ŋ á] sing
ŋ̊ ငှါး [ŋ̊ á] None; like /ŋ/ , but voiceless
p ပဲ [p ɛ́] sp at[2]
pʰ ဖဲ [pʰ ɛ́] p at[3]
ɹ အမရပူရ [ʔəməɹ a̰pùɹ a̰] [5] r ock
s စာ [s à] cats [6]
sʰ ဆာ [sʰ à] grass h ut[3]
ʃ ရှာ [ʃ à] sh oe
t တတ် [t aʔ] st y[2]
tʰ ထပ် [tʰ aʔ] t ie[3]
tɕ ကြဉ် [tɕ ɪ̀ɴ] itch [2]
tɕʰ ချင် [tɕʰ ɪ̀ɴ] ch ew[3]
θ သတ် [θ aʔ] th in
w ဝါး [w á] w ield
z ဇာ [z à] z oo
ʔ အုတ် [ʔ ouʔ ] _ uh-_ oh[7]
Vowels
IPA
Burmese examples
Approximate English equivalent
a နား [ná ] fa ther
ai နိုင် [nài ɴ] migh t
au နောက် [nau ʔ] mou th[8]
e နေ [nè ] Scottish English ma te
ei နိပ် [nei ʔ] may [8]
ɛ နယ် [nɛ̀ ] me t
ə ခလုတ် [kʰə louʔ] comma
i နီး [ní ] mee t
ɪ နင်း [nɪ́ ɴ] mi t[8]
o နို့ [no̰ ] Scottish English no te
ou နုန်း [nóu ɴ] mow [8]
ɔ နော် [nɔ̀ ] bough t
u နှူး [n̥ú ] moo t
ʊ နွမ်း [nʊ́ ɴ] foo t[8]
Tones
IPA
Burmese examples
Explanation
`
ငါ [ŋà] Normal phonation , medium duration, low intensity, low (often slightly rising) pitch
´
ငါး [ŋá] Sometimes slightly breathy , relatively long, high intensity, high pitch; often with a fall before a pause
˷
ငါ့ [ŋa̰] Tense or creaky phonation (sometimes with lax glottal stop ), medium duration, high intensity, high (often slightly falling) pitch
साँचा:Burmese characters
↑ An allophone of /θ/ , not a distinct phoneme.
↑ अ आ इ ई Unaspirated , like /p t k/ etc. in Romance or Slavic languages.↑ अ आ इ ई उ Heavily aspirated .
↑ The vowel before the /ɴ/ is always nasalized , and if a consonant follows /ɴ/ , then the /ɴ/ becomes homorganic with the following consonant.
↑ A marginal consonant in Burmese, /ɹ/ occurs only in foreign words, and even there is often replaced by /j/ or /l/ .
↑ Much shorter than the English /s/ in S ue
↑ The glottal stop , which may also be heard instead of /t/ in some varieties of English in words like butt on [ˈbʌʔn̩] .
↑ अ आ इ ई उ The sounds [au] , [ei] , [ɪ] , [ou] , and [ʊ] are allophones of /ɔ/ , /e/ , /i/ , /o/ , and /u/ respectively, occurring in closed syllables , i.e. before /ɴ/ and /ʔ/ .