A number of two-letter combinations or digraphs follow distinct pronunciation patterns and do not follow the hard/soft distinction of . For example, may represent (as in chicken), (as in chef), or (as in choir). Other letter combinations that don't follow the paradigm include , , , , , and . These come primarily from loanwords.

Besides a few examples (recce, soccer, Speccy), fits neatly with the regular rules of : Before , the second is soft while