The charts below show the way in which the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) represents Burmese language pronunciations in Wikipedia articles.

See Burmese phonology for a more thorough discussion of the sounds of Burmese.

Consonants
IPA Burmese example English approximation
b ဘဲ [bɛ́] bat
d ဓာတ် [daʔ] dye
ဂျင် [ɪ̀ɴ] Jew
ð အညာသား [ʔəɲàðá] this
ɡ ဂုဏ် [ɡòʊɴ] gate
h ဟုတ် [hoʊʔ] hone
j ယား [já] yield
k ကုန် [kòʊɴ] skate[1]
ခုန် [òʊɴ] Kate[2]
l လုပ် [loʊʔ] lay
လှုပ် [oʊʔ] play; like /l/ but voiceless
m မတ် [maʔ] much
မှတ် [aʔ] None; like /m/ but voiceless
n နမ်း [náɴ] not
နှမ်း [áɴ] None; like /n/ but voiceless
ɴ ခံ [kʰaɴ] somewhat like long[3]
ɲ ညစ် [ɲɪʔ] canyon
ɲ̥ ညှစ် [ɲ̥ɪʔ] None; like /ɲ/, but voiceless
ŋ ငါး [ŋá] sing
ŋ̊ ငှါး [ŋ̊á] None; like /ŋ/, but voiceless
p ပဲ [pɛ́] spat[1]
ဖဲ [ɛ́] pat[2]
ɹ အမရပူရ [ʔəməɹa̰pùɹa̰][4] rock
s စာ [sà] gas
ဆာ [à] grass hut[2]
ʃ ရှာ [ʃà] shoe
t တတ် [taʔ] sty[1]
ထပ် [aʔ] tie[2]
ကြဉ် [ɪ̀ɴ] itch[1]
tɕʰ ချင် [tɕʰɪ̀ɴ] chew[2]
θ သတ် [θaʔ] thin
w ဝါး [wá] wield
z ဇာ [zà] zoo
ʔ အုတ် [ʔʔ] uh-oh, Cockney bottle
Vowels
IPA Burmese examples Approximate English equivalent
a နား [ná] father
နိုင် [nàɪɴ] might
နောက် [nʔ] mouth[5]
e နေ [nè] Scottish English mate
နိပ် [nʔ] may[5]
ɛ နယ် [nɛ̀] met
ə ခလုတ် [kʰəloʊʔ] comma
i နီး [ní] meet
ɪ နင်း [nɪ́ɴ] mit[5]
o နို့ [n] Scottish English note
နုန်း [nóʊɴ] mow[5]
ɔ နော် [nɔ̀] bought
u နှူး [n̥ú] moot
ʊ နွမ်း [nʊ́ɴ] foot[5]
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
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Unaspirated, like /p t k/ etc. in Romance or Slavic languages.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Heavily aspirated.
  3. The vowel before the /ɴ/ is always nasalized, and if a consonant follows /ɴ/, then the /ɴ/ becomes homorganic with the following consonant.
  4. A marginal consonant in Burmese, /ɹ/ occurs only in foreign words, and even there is often replaced by /j/ or /l/.
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 The sounds [aʊ], [eɪ], [ɪ], [oʊ], and [ʊ] are allophones of /ɔ/, /e/, /i/, /o/, and /u/ respectively, occurring in closed syllables, i.e. before /ɴ/ and /ʔ/.

ਫਰਮਾ:IPA keys horizontal