A / Á / Â |
Always long, as in 'father', never short like in 'hat' |
E / É / Ê |
This is always like the e in 'fed' or 'head', never 'feet' |
I / Í / Î |
If it starts a word whose second letter is a vowel it is an English 'y' sound as in 'yes' e.g. iaur (ancient), iant (bridge), iuitha- (to use). If it starts a word whose second letter is a consonant, it is a normal vowel sound. An 'i' without an accent is pronounced short, as in 'sick', or 'hit'. An accented 'i' is a long 'ee' sound, like the 'i' in 'machine' |
O / Ó / Ô |
A short o is like the 'o' in 'dog' or 'lot'. An accented o should be pronounced like the O in 'snow', 'oh' |
U / Ú / Û |
Pronounce this like the 'oo' in 'tool' |
Y / Ý / Ŷ |
This should be pronounced like a rounder version of a 'u', as in the French 'lune' |
C |
This is always hard as in 'kite', never soft like the English 'cent' or 'piece' |
CH |
Never as in 'church', always as in 'loch' or 'bach' from Scots/German |
DH |
The voiced 'th' sound as in 'these', or 'those' (not 'thing' or 'thief') |
F |
Beginning of word; soft as in 'father'. Anywhere else in the word; a 'v' as in 'verge' |
G |
Always hard as in 'get', never soft like in 'edge' |
HW |
The older British English pronunciation of 'white', or with a slight breath before the 'w' as if the letters WH in 'white' were reversed |
I |
As mentioned above, it becomes a 'y' as in 'yacht' if before a vowel or starting a word |
L |
Clear as in 'let' or 'leaf', never 'dark L' as in British English 'bottle' |
LH |
The Welsh LL sound (as in 'llan'). For an approximation, pronounce this as if the letters were reversed and written HL |
NG |
At the beginning or end of a word, as in the English 'ring' or 'sing', otherwise as in 'finger' |
PH |
An 'f' sound as in 'phonic' or 'phone' |
R |
Trilled, as in Spanish |
RH |
At the beginning of words only: This is what's known as a voiceless trilled R (for a rough guide pronounce it as if the H and trilled R were reversed, it should sound quite breathy with a slight trill) |
TH |
A soft 'th' as in 'thing' or 'thick', never as in 'the' or 'that' |
W |
At the end of a word you have two options for pronunciation. The Elves pronounced this like a W in 'woe', 'wight', but this is very difficult for a Man to replicate as you have to be exceptionally careful not to add in a 'schwa' (the vowel sound of the ER in 'butter', 'brother', or the AR in 'wizard'). The schwa sound does not exist in Sindarin. The Gondorians pronounced a final W like a Sindarin U. Anywhere else in a word a W should be pronounced as in 'wet' or 'woe' |
AI |
Like the 'i' in 'fine' or 'light', not like the word 'straight' |
AE |
Same as for AI, the 'i' in 'fine' or 'bright' - see below for further information |
AU |
Pronounce like the 'ou' in 'loud' or the 'ow' in 'now' |
AW |
As for AU above, pronounce like the 'ou' in 'loud' or the 'ow' in 'now' |
EI |
This is like the English 'ay' in 'play' or 'say' |
OE |
This is the 'oy' sound in 'boy' |
UI |
Pronounce this like 'ui' in 'ruin' |
ER |
As in the word 'fair' |
IR |
As in 'dear' or 'ear' |
UR |
As in 'poor' |
Number of syllables in the word |
Where the stress falls |
Two |
On the first syllable (EL-rond, AR-wen) |
Three or more |
On the penultimate (second to last) syllable (i-SIL-dur, peri-ANN-ath) or on the third to last syllable (gal-AD-ri-el) |