Key Burmese sounds, tones, and minimal pairs for accurate pronunciation. Front: the sound, tone, or example word (with romanization). Back: meaning plus a plain-English pronunciation note.
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- Low tone
- A level, relaxed pitch with no special mark in this romanization system, as in the first syllable of Mingalar
- High tone (marked with :)
- A tone that starts high and falls slightly, marked here with a colon after the syllable, as in kar: (car)
- Creaky tone
- A short, tense tone produced with a slightly creaky voice quality, changing a word's meaning from its low or high tone version
- Aspirated consonants (Hp, Ht, Kh)
- Consonants pronounced with a strong puff of air, distinct from their unaspirated counterparts p, t, and k
- Unaspirated p, t, k
- Pronounced without a puff of air, softer than English p, t, and k
- Nasalized vowels (final n)
- Many Burmese syllables end in a nasal sound produced through the nose rather than a full consonant
- The letter ရ
- Usually pronounced like an English y in standard Burmese, not like an English r
- Th sound
- Pronounced like the th in English think, as in thwar: (go)
- Ky/Gy sound
- A palatalized k or g sound, made by saying k and y together quickly, as in kyet (chicken)
- Hpy sound
- An aspirated, palatalized p sound, as in hpyu (white)
- Final glottal stop
- Some syllables end in an abrupt stop of the breath, similar to the catch in the middle of uh-oh
- Sa vs Sar:
- The same consonant and vowel with different tones carry completely different meanings, letter versus eat
- Syllable-timed rhythm
- Burmese speech is syllable-timed, with each syllable taking roughly equal time, unlike stress-timed English
- Consonant clusters
- Burmese avoids consonant clusters within a syllable except for a glide like ky or hpy
- Vowel a
- Pronounced like the a in father when unmarked
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