Klryz
Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

Vowels

iːseeɪsite / ɛbedæcat
ɑːfatherɒhot (UK)ɔːlawʊput
uːtooʌcupɜːbirdəabout
eɪdayaɪmyɔɪboyaʊnow
əʊ / oʊgo (UK / US)ɪəneareəhairʊətour

Consonants that look unusual

θthinðthisʃsheʒmeasure
tʃchurchdʒjudgeŋsingjyes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

Marks

  • ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
  • ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

Common word endings

  • -s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
  • -ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
  • -ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
  • Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
  • Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

English Dictionary · 107,383 entries · Sources & licences

if

/ɪf/ conjunction, noun

Forms ifs eef ifen iffen if'n

  1. conjunction Supposing that, assuming that, in the circumstances that; suppositive used to introduce a condition that may be (or prove to be) either true or false. “I'll do it next week if I have time.”
  2. conjunction (computing) A keyword that invokes conditional processing: in the event that a given condition is true, execute the given statement(s) (otherwise execute other statements). “if A then B else C”
  3. conjunction Supposing that; used with past or past perfect subjunctive to indicate a counterfactual or hypothetical condition. “If she hadn't told me, I wouldn't know.”
  4. conjunction (usually hyperbolic) Even if; even in the circumstances that. “I wouldn't marry you if you were the last man on earth.”
  5. conjunction Considering the fact that; given that; introducing a condition that is known to be true. “The drain's blocked — and if the drain's blocked, the water won't flow.”
  6. conjunction When; whenever; every time that. “If you heat water to 100° C, it boils.”
  7. conjunction Although; used to introduce a concession; may..but. “He was a great friend, if a little stingy at the bar.”
  8. conjunction (sometimes proscribed) Whether; used to introduce a noun clause, an indirect question, that functions as the direct object of certain verbs.
  9. noun (informal) An uncertainty, possibility, condition, doubt etc. “The board can't approve this project; there are too many ifs.”

Etymology

From Middle English if, yif, yef, from Old English ġif (“if”), from Proto-West Germanic *jabu, *jabē, from Proto-Germanic *jabai (“when, if”). Cognate with Scots gif (“if, whether”), Saterland Frisian af, of (“if, whether”), West Frisian oft (“whether”), Dutch of (“or, whether, but”), Middle Low German ef, if, af, of ("if; whether"; > German Low German of), German ob (“if, whether”), Icelandic ef (“if”).

Webster’s 1913

  1. conjunction In case that; granting, allowing, or supposing that; --introducing a condition or supposition.
  2. conjunction Whether; --in dependent questions.

Etymology [OE. if, gif, AS. gif; akin to OFries. ief, gef, ef, OS. ef, of, D. of, or, whether, if, G. ob whether, if, OHG. oba, ibu, Icel. ef, Goth. iba, ibai, an interrogative particle; properly a case form of a noun meaning, doubt (cf. OHG. iba doubt, condition, Icel. if, ef, ifi, efi), and therefore orig. meaning, on condition that.]

Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “if”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details