Pronunciation

Consonants

Consonant combinations with h are sometimes written with a dot (séimhiú, shay-VOO) on the letter instead of the h and are sometimes silent. Consonants have two versions called caol (narrow, palatalized) and leathan (wide, unpalatalized); this is indicated in writing by adjacent vowels.

b: like bed
bh: like W sound when a broad consonant (A,O,U) follows; Like a V sound when a slender consonant (E, I) follows.
c: like kid
ch: as in Scottish 'loch'
d: like dog
dh: voiced h sound, y sound at the start of a word, sometimes vague 'gh' sound (munster dialect especially)
f: like fun
fh: silent (except in Ulster, where it's said like an H)
g: like go
gh: voiced velar fricative (in layman's terms, made soft in the back of the throat)
h: like help
l: like lean
m: like mother
mh: same as bh
n: like nice
p: like pig
ph: like phone or whom
r: rolled or flapped
s: like sheen or soon
sh: like hear
t: like tea
th: like hear