Burmese Tone Reference with Audio
Burmese 1-2-3 tone system is used throughout the lessons that correlates the Burmese Romanization with equivalent English words. The following table is the summary reference with audio recordings.
| Audio | Pronunciation |
|---|---|
| Ah1 | "a" in "art" (silent "rt") |
| Ah2 | "ar" in "Argentina" (silent "r") |
| Ah3 | "ar" in "Artist" (slilent "r") |
| De1 | "de" in "deep" (silent "p") |
| De2 | "de" as in "demote"; "demand" |
| De3 | "dee" as in "deer"; "decent" |
| Ko1 | "colt" (silent "lt") |
| Ko2 | as in "co-author"; "cocaine" |
| Ko3 | "cold" (silent "ld") |
| Yu1 | "u" in "Youth" (silent "th") |
| Yu2 | "u" as in "university"; "utensil" |
| Yu3 | "u" as in "user"; "Unix" |
| Shan1 | as in "shunt" (silent "t") |
| Shan2 | "shun" as in "chandelier" |
| Shan3 | as in "shun" |
| Au1 | as in "auction" |
| Au2 | as in "Australia";"auditor" |
| Au3 | as in "August" |
| May1 | "maize" (silent "ze") |
| May2 | "may" as in "May I?" |
| May3 | "ay" in "amazing" |
| Sin1 | "sink" (silent "k") |
| Sin2 | "sin" as in "sincerely" |
| Sin3 | "sin" as in "sinful"; "Singapore" |
| Un1 | "aunt" (silent "t") |
| Un2 | "un" in "understanding" |
| Un3 | "un" as in "under" |
| Meare1 | "melt" (silent "lt") |
| Meare2 | "mel" in "Melbourne" (silent "l") |
| Meare3 | "mare" of "nightmare" |
| Tain1 | "taint" (silent "t") |
| Tain2 | "tain" as in "Captain" |
| Tain3 | "tain" as in "maintain" |
| Bine1 | "Bryant" without "r" |
| Bine2 | as in "carbine" |
| Bine3 | as in "combine" |
| Dome1 | as in "don't" |
| Dome2 | as in "domain" |
| Dome3 | as in "dome" |
| Toon1 | "doont" in "couldn't" |
| Toon2 | "mon" in "monastery" |
| Toon3 | "oon" as in "cartoon" |
| Koun1 | "count" (silent "t") |
| Koun2 | "coun" in "counter-strike" |
| Koun3 | "coun" as in "counsel" |
| ate | cake, jade, eight, paid, bake |
| et | wet, set, mad, yet |
| oot | cook, put, look |
| out | out, south, mouse, doubt |
| ike/ite | sight, pipe, night, dice, like |
| ut | up, nut, sucks |
| oat | oat, coat, goat, soak |
| it | it, pit, sit |
For detailed explanations and rationale behind this development, please visit lesson 1 on tones.
Color Codes: nouns, pronouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, particles, postpositional markers, interjections.