The spelling of "went up down" can be explained using the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The word "went" is pronounced /wɛnt/, with the first sound being a voiced labiodental approximant (/w/) and the second sound being a mid-front vowel (/ɛ/). The word "up" is pronounced /ʌp/, with the first sound being a mid-central vowel (/ʌ/) and the second sound being a voiceless bilabial plosive (/p/). Finally, the word "down" is pronounced /daʊn/, with the first sound being a voiced alveolar plosive (/d/), the second sound being a diphthong (/aʊ/), and the third sound being a voiced dental nasal (/n/).