Cheatsheet A0

Foundations

The Alphabet

Point	Rule	Example
26 letters	vowels a, e, i, o, u; 21 consonants; y works as both	yes / my
A H J K	names have the sound /eɪ/	H /eɪtʃ/ · J /dʒeɪ/ · K /keɪ/
B C D E G P T V	names end in /iː/	B /biː/ · C /siː/ · T /tiː/
F L M N S X	names start with /e/	F /ef/ · M /em/ · X /eks/
I Y	names end in /aɪ/	I /aɪ/ · Y /waɪ/
O R Z	each name is its own	O /əʊ/ · R /ɑː/ · Z /zed/
Q U W	names end in /juː/; W is double U	Q /kjuː/ · U /juː/ · W /ˈdʌbəljuː/
Name and sound	a letter's name can differ from its sound in a word	A /eɪ/ ≠ apple /æ/
US	Z is /ziː/ and R is /ɑːr/	Z /ziː/ · R /ɑːr/
Trap	the name's vowel tells G from J and E from I	G /dʒiː/ · J /dʒeɪ/ · E /iː/ · I /aɪ/

Sounds and IPA

Point	Rule	Example
IPA	one symbol for each sound, written between slashes	book /bʊk/
Spelling and sound	spelling and sound often differ: photo has no /p/ and no /h/	photo /ˈfəʊtəʊ/
ː / ˈ	ː makes a vowel long; ˈ comes before the stressed syllable	food /fuːd/ · teacher /ˈtiːtʃə/
Consonant symbols	some symbols differ from the spelling: ch → /tʃ/, j → /dʒ/, y → /j/	chair / job / yes

Numbers

Point	Rule	Example
0–12	each has its own word; -teen starts at 13	zero / eleven / twelve
-teen	13–19 add stressed -teen; 13, 15 and 18 change their first part	thirteen /θɜːˈtiːn/ · fifteen · eighteen
-ty	tens end in -ty and the stress is on the first part	thirty /ˈθɜːti/ · forty
21–99	ten + hyphen + unit	twenty-one / forty-five
hundred, thousand, million	they stay singular after a number; and comes after hundred	two hundred and fifty / five million
Ordinals	the order of things: first, second, third; from 4 add -th	My flat is on the second floor. / the fourth of July
Short ordinals	number + the last two letters of the word	1st / 2nd / 3rd / 4th
Compound ordinals	only the last word changes	twenty-first / a hundred and second
Phone numbers	say each digit; 0 is oh; two equal digits are double	077 → oh double seven
Comma and point	a comma separates thousands; a point separates decimals	1,500 / 2.5 → two point five
Trap	five, nine, twelve and twenty change their spelling in ordinals	fifth / ninth / twelfth / twentieth
Trap	forty drops the u that fourteen keeps	fourteen ≠ forty

Days, Months and Dates

Point	Rule	Example
Days	Monday to Friday are weekdays; Saturday and Sunday are the weekend	Monday / Friday / the weekend
Months	twelve months, from January to December	January / June / December
Day of the month	say the day as an ordinal, then of and the month	5 May → the fifth of May
Date order	day, month, year (US: month, day, year)	04/07/2026 = 4 July
Years	two pairs of digits; 00 is hundred, 01–09 take oh	nineteen ninety-nine / nineteen hundred / nineteen oh five
After 2000	2000–2009: two thousand (and) + unit; from 2010 both forms are common	two thousand and eight / twenty twenty-six
Asking the date	ask What's the date today? and answer with an ordinal	It's the tenth of October.
Capitals	days and months start with a capital letter	Monday / June
Trap	the first d in Wednesday is silent	Wednesday /ˈwenzdeɪ/

Telling the Time

Point	Rule	Example
Asking	answer with It's + the time	What time is it? — It's seven thirty.
Numbers	say the hour, then the minutes; 1–9 minutes take oh	7:05 → seven oh five
o'clock	a full hour takes o'clock	seven o'clock
Trap	minutes replace o'clock	seven fifteen

Nouns and determiners

Plurals

Point	Rule	Example
Most nouns	+ s	two books
-s, -ss, -sh, -ch, -x, -z	+ es	bus → buses / box → boxes
consonant + y	y → ies	city → cities
vowel + y	+ s	boy → boys
Irregular	no -s: man, woman, child, person	three children
Trap	people takes a plural verb	The people are nice.

This, That, These, Those

Use	Near	Far
Before a singular noun	this bag	that bag
Before a plural noun	these shoes	those shoes
Alone, with is	This is my bag.	That is my bag.
Alone, with are	These are my keys.	Those are my shoes.
Introducing people	This is Ana.	—
On the phone	Hi, this is Tom.	Is that Ana? (US: Is this Ana?)

Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Point	Pronouns	Rule	Example
Subject	I / you / he / she / it / we / they	goes before the verb	She's a teacher.
Possessive + noun	my / your / his / her / its / our / their	goes before a noun, with no article	My name is Tom.
Weather, time	it	no real subject: it fills the place	It's cold today.
Trap	its	its has no apostrophe; it's = it is	The dog wants its food.

Verbs

To be

Tense	Question				Statement				Negative
Tense	Verb	Subject	Rest		Subject	Verb	Rest		Subject	Verb	Rest
Present	Am	I	late?		I	am	late.		I	am not	late.
	Are	you			You	are			You	aren't
	Is	he			He	is			He	isn't
		she			She				She
		it			It				It
	Are	we			We	are			We	aren't
	Are	they			They	are			They	aren't

Sentence building

Word Order

Point	Rule	Example
Order	subject + verb + object + place + time	My sister buys bread in the shop every day.
Subject	the subject is always present	It is cold.
Adjective	comes before the noun	I have a red car.