VOWELS
Accent:

In Gaelic, short and long vowels are used. Long vowels are indicated by adding the grave (`) accent on them: à, è, ì, ò and ù.

a	like 'a' in 'hat'
à	like 'a' in 'father'
o	like 'o' in 'coat'; like 'o' in 'cot'; like 'u' in 'cut'
ò	like 'au' in 'caught'; like 'o' in 'owe'
u	like 'oo' in 'boot'
ù	like 'oo' in 'cool'
i	like 'ee' in 'feet'
ì	like 'ea' in 'mean'
e	like 'a' in 'late'; like 'e' in 'get'
è	like 'ay' in 'say'; like 'ai' in 'fair'

When the vowel i is added to any of these vowels above, the pronunciation is usually still intact:

a	ai (ea)
à	ài
o	oi (eo)
ò	òi (eò, eòi)
u	ui (iu, iui)
i	io
ì	ìo
e	ei
è	èi (ea)

However, the following vowel sounds (diphthongs) should be pronounced with care:

eu	like 'ia' in 'Maria' and 'ay' in 'say' together
ao	this sound does not exist in English. Try saying 'oo' in 'cool' without rounding the lips
aoi	no equivalent in English. Try saying 'o' in 'go' without rounding the lips
ia(i)	like 'ea' in 'ear'
ua(i)	like 'oo' in 'poor'
ea	like 'e' in 'get' and 'a' in 'cat' together
io	like 'ee' in 'feet' in 'oo' in 'boot' together
ìo	like 'ea' in 'ear'

DIPHTHONGS

We have met the diphthongs ia, ua, aoi, eu. There are more diphthongs to follow. They are not represented by a combination of vowels but accompanied by consonants. Short vowels that come with the following consonants ll, nn, m and bh, mh, dh, gh become diphthongs. Look at below:

all, ann, am	like 'ow' in 'how'
oll, onn, om	like 'o' in standard English 'no'
aill, ainn, aim	like 'y' in 'my'
aibh, aimh, einn, eim	like 'ay' in 'say'
oill, oinn, oim, aidh, aigh, oidh, oigh	no equivalent in English. Try saying 'u' in 'cut' and 'i' in 'bit' altogether as a diphthong
uill, uinn, uim	no equivalent in English. Try saying 'oo' in 'cool' without rounding the lips and 'i' in 'bit' altogether as a diphthong

HELPING (EPENTHETIC) VOWELS

When a word contains a cluster of consonants (usually l, r, or n), a vowel is usually inserted to help the pronunciation:

GAELIC	ENGLISH	PRONUNCIATION
Alba	Scotland	al-a-ba
marbh	dead	mar-a-v
arm	army	ar-a-m

'BROAD' OR 'SLENDER'?

Vowels are classed into two groups, the 'broad' and the 'slender'. A, o and u are in the broad group, whilst e and i are classed as slender. More about the 'broad' and 'slender' will be explained below in the CONSONANTS section.

CONSONANTS

Thank God we are over with the vowels now!!! That was quite a lot of things to learn! Now we are going to learn how to deal with the consonants.
In Gaelic, consonants have two groups, the 'broad' ones and the 'slender' ones. Linguistically, this is one of the main characteristics of the Celtic languages and Gaelic is no exception.
For every broad consonant, there is a corresponding slender consonant. That is, a single consonant can be broad or slender, depending on the vowels around it.
But... how the heck do we know whether the consonant is broad or slender? That's easy, if the consonant is surrounded by, preceding or following a broad vowel then it must be broad. Similarly, a consonant that is with a slender vowel is therefore slender. Very logical isn't it? But why does the language bothers using the slender and vowel? Because it alters the sounds of the consonants... The rule is known as:

Caol ri caol is leathann ri leathann.

Slender with slender and broad with broad.

Consider the following examples:

caileag, balla, gille, daoine, baga, pàipear, Seumas, Màiri, brògan.

BE CAREFUL!: Like many other languages, there are some words that break the rule... For example:

dèante, esan, etc.

PRONUNCIATION OF BROAD CONSONANTS

Most broad consonants are very similar to the English counterparts but some differences will be taken with care:

b	like 'b' in 'bad' at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like 'p' in 'cap'
p	like 'p' in 'pad'
g	like 'g' in 'good' at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like 'k' in 'cook'
c	like 'c' in 'cat'
d	like 'd' in 'do' at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like 't' in 'cat'. The tongue must touch the upper teeth
t	like 't' in 'beat'
l, ll	like a hollow 'l' as in 'full' with the tongue touching the upper teeth
n	hollow, in the same way as above, at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like 'n' in 'need'
nn	hollow, like above
r	no equivalent in English. Like rolled 'r' in Spanish at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like 'r' in 'read'
ng	like 'ng' in 'sing'
s	like 's' in 'sit'

SLENDER CONSONANTS

All slender consonants are palatalised. This means that these consonants are softened by the 'y' sound being added to them. Gille (boy) is pronounced as 'gYil-luh'. This is often easier for the Russian speakers as many Russian consonants can be softened by the use of palatalisation.

b	like 'b' in 'beautiful' at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like 'p' in 'loop'
p	like 'p' in 'pew'
g	like 'g' in 'argue' at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like 'c' in 'cue'
d	like 'j' in 'jump' at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like 'ch' in 'chew'
l	like 'lli' in 'million' at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like 'll' in 'bill'
n	more like the French 'gn' or Spanish 'ñ'; approximate sound in English is the 'n' in 'onion' at the beginning of a word; otherwise, like 'n' in 'nice'
nn	like like French 'gn' or Spanish 'ñ'
r	no equivalent in English. In some dialects, it is pronounced like 'th' in 'thin'
ng	like 'ng' in 'sing'
f	like 'f' in 'few'
h	like 'h' in 'ham'
m	like 'm' in 'mule'
s	like 'sh' in 'shoe'

There are exceptional words, especially with the loan words: tì, dola (the 't' and 'd' are pronounced like in English).

PREASPIRATION

This is when a 'h' sound is heard before certain Gaelic voice-less consonants - t, c, p. Before c, however, the soft guttural sound is uttered, similar to the German 'ch' in 'Bach' or Scottish 'ch' in 'loch'.

GAELIC	PRONUNCIATION	ENGLISH
cat	[kaht]	cat
cait	[kahtY]	cats
mac	[maCHk]	son
mic	[miCHk]	sons
map	[mahp]	map

CLUSTERS RT AND RD

When Gaelic words contain any of the two clusters (rt, rd), the 's' sound is inserted between the r and t or the r and d:

GAELIC	PRONUNCIATION	ENGLISH
ceart	[kYarst]	right
àrd	[aarst]	high

HIATUS

When words contain the following combinations: bh, mh, dh, gh between vowels, then the combinations become a hiatus. This means that they become a mute or silent pause: when you hear them spoken, you will hear that there is a pause between the syllables. In the square brackets below, the hyphen indicates the hiatus. The following examples will help you understand how a hiatus works:

GAELIC	PRONUNCIATION	ENGLISH
laghach	[la-aCH]	kind
saoghal	[sü-al]	world
cladhach	[kla-aCH]	digging
abhainn	[a-yñ]	river

Th, when appeared, it is usually replaced by a 'h' sound. Exceptions are as follows:

GAELIC	PRONUNCIATION	ENGLISH
latha	[la-a]	day
fhathast	[ha-ast]	yet
rathad	[ra-at]	road

The following combinations of consonants need to be pronounced with care:

BROAD

ph	like 'f' in 'fish'
bh	like 'v' in 'very'
ch	no equivalent in English. Like German 'ch' in 'Bach' or Scottish 'ch' in 'loch'
gh	no equivalent in English. Like 'g' in Dutch 'gaat' or 'r' in French 'rire'; voiced version of guttural 'ch'
th	like 'h' in 'hat'
dh	like Gaelic 'gh'
mh	like Gaelic 'bh'
sh	like 'h' in 'hat'
fh	silent (except in the following words fhuair, fhalbh where they are pronounced as 'h')

SLENDER

ph	like 'f' in 'few'
bh	like 'v' in 'view'
ch	Like 'h' in 'hue' or 'ch' in the German word 'ich'
gh	Like 'y' in 'yes' or German 'j' in 'ja'
th	like 'th' or 'ch' in German 'ich'
dh	soft Gaelic 'gh'
mh	like Gaelic 'bh'
sh	like 'ch' in German 'ich'
fh	silent (except fhèin where it is pronounced as 'h')

NOTE: All the given pronunciations above are only approximate. You may need a native speaker to help you pronounce the words properly.