Old English Grammar

2A, 2B: Pronunciation of Unchanged Consonants

For Exercise 2A, listen to each sound clip (click on the Old English word) and then reproduce the pronunciation you hear (it will be helpful refer to the descriptions in A Gentle Introduction as well).

For Exercise 2B, read each word aloud, then click to check your pronunciation.

If you have difficulty loading the audio files, please listen along with the YouTube video.

The following consonants are pronounced in Old English much as in Modern English:

b, d, k, l, m, n, p, r, t, x

Old English word Modern English meaning Pronunciation
bed bed
biddan to ask
biscop bishop
kyning or cyning king
God God
land land
nim take
ramm ram
bude lived
winter winter
longe long
be by
nan none, no
buton except, unless, without
tid time
betwenan between, in the mean time
in in
on on
up up
bin bin
axian to ask
betweox betwixt, between
swift swift
gold gold
grim grim
song song
corn corn
under under
lamb lamb
wind wind