There are three basic vowels in the Circassian language: а, э, ы.

The vowel а is an open sound pronounced with the lower rise. To pronounce the sound the tongue goes a little backwards. The vowel э is a sound of the middle rise, it is less open than the а sound. The ы sound is a sound of the upper rise, less open than both а and э.

There are also diphthongs (complex vowels) in the Circassian language. They consist of the simple vowels а, э, ы, и, у and the dorsal consonant й: е=й+э, и=й+ы, о=у+э, у=у+ы, ё=й+о, ю=й+у, я=й+а.

There are 56 consonant sounds (phonemes) in the Circassian language. The consonants are either hard or soft with the following specifics:

• There are ternary rows of consonants that follow the “voiced (sonant) – voiceless – guttural” theme: б-п-п1, д-т-т1, дз-ц-ц1, дж-ч-к1 and others. For example, in the first row: б is voiced, п is voiceless, and п1 is guttural;
• There are no differential attributes for hard and soft consonants. Most of Circassian consonants are hard ones: б, д, г, м, н, х, з, с, т, ф and others, but there are also consonants that are always soft: жь, л, ч, щ, лъ, дж;
• There are binary rows of consonants that follow the “non-labial – labial” theme: г - гу, гъ - гъу, къ - къу, хъ - хъу, жъ - жъу, ш1 - ш1у, шъ - шъу, 1 – 1у and others.
• There are palatal and lateral consonants: л – лъ – л1;
• Absence of the в sound in the words that are actually Circassian (not borrowed), and rarity of the к sound. In the words borrowed from Russian the Circassians tend to pronounce either у or ф instead of the first mentioned sound, and one of the къ, ку, or ч sounds instead of the second. For example: тэуар instead of товар, кэнау instead of канава; къэзэкъ instead of казак, платыку instead of платок;
• In some cases of borrowed words, using the voiceless aspirate ф sound instead of the voiced в sound.
• There are the hard sibilant ж, ш sounds, and the soft sibilant жь, щ sounds;
• There are the voiced sibilant жь, ж sounds, and the voiceless sibilant щ, ш sounds.

The main feature of the basic Circassian vowels а, э, ы  is that they easily combine with consonants. They produce combinations with any of Circassian consonants both before and after them. Vowel sounds (phonemes) are usually take their place in the middle or at the end of Circassian words. Any consonant can be met as the first letter of a Circassian word or somewhere in the middle, but not every consonant can be met at the end.