• In the English language, the letters “a,” “e,” “i,” “o,” “u” and sometimes “y” are called

ed vowels.

You could say that many different ways:

• like the “æ” sound in “cat”

• like the name of the letter “a”
• like in Spanish, the word ”avión”

A vowel’s position in a word can affect the way you pronounce it. You can memorize some
pronunciation rules or learn by finding patterns in words.

All vowels have at least two pronunciations: a long sound and a short sound. A long vowel is the name of
the vowel (for example, long “a” is “ay” like in the word “say”). A short vowel is a shorter sound (for
example, short “a” sounds like “æ” from the word “cat”).

Words are split up into syllables, which are uninterrupted bits of sound that form the word. Each syllable
has one vowel sound. You can find the syllables in a word by placing your hand below your chin and
saying it out loud. Every time your chin touches your hand, that’s a syllable. You can double check with
sites like “How Many Syllables.”

Here are five of the most common rules for vowel pronunciation:

• 1. When a word or syllable ends in a consonant and has only one vowel, that vowel is short.
Examples: cat, bed, fish (Sounds almost like in Spanish)

• 2. When a word ends in “e,” the “e” is silent (not read out loud), and the vowel that comes
before it is long.

Examples: bake, file, rope (The a sounds like an ei in spanish, I sounds like an ai in Spanish, the o sounds
like an ou in Spanish)

• 3. When a syllable has two vowels next to each other, the first is usually long and the second
short.

Examples: pain, boat, grow (Ai sounds like ei, oa sounds like oua)

• 4. When a syllable ends in one vowel, that vowel is usually long. Examples: open, unit, paper

5. Many times, these rules don’t work! There are many exceptions (times when the rules are broken).
Sometimes the only way to learn something is to practice and memorize it.
 Introduction to Long Vowels
What is a long vowel sound?
Long vowel is the term used to refer to vowel sounds whose pronunciation is the same
as its letter name. The five vowels of the English spelling system ('a', 'e,' 'i,' 'o,' and 'u') each
have a corresponding long vowel sound /eɪ/, /i/, /ɑɪ/, /oʊ/, /yu/. Long vowels are generally
the easiest vowels for non-native English speakers to distinguish and pronounce correctly.

It is easier to hear vowel sounds within words than it is to hear the sound alone. Listen to the
following words to help learn to hear individual sounds.

long a /eɪ/: cake /keɪk/ (pronounce it, spell i t, practice it)

long e /i/: keep /kip/ (pronounce it, spell it, practice it) long
i /ɑɪ/: bike/bɑɪk/ (pronounce it, spell it, practice it) long o
/oʊ/: home /hoʊm/ (pronounce it, spell it, practice it) long u
/yu/: cute /kyut/ (pronounce it, spell it, practice it)
 Introduction to two-sound vowels
A two-sound vowel is a vowel sound that includes a 'y sound' /y/or a 'w sound' /w/ in the
pronunciation. Often, the /y/ or /w/ is only a minor part of the sound but must be included
for the sound to be pronounced fully. Two-sound vowels are known linguistically as
diphthongs (pronounced as dip-thong or dif-thong).

In North American English, four of the five long vowel sounds are pronounced as two-sound
vowels.

long a /eɪ/, ends in a brief /y/ long

i /ɑɪ/, ends in a brief /y/ long o
/oʊ/, ends in a brief /w/ long u
/yu/, begins with a brief /y/

• Note that /yu/ is essentially the /y/ plus the 'oo sound' /u/ and is the only vowel sound that will be
preceded by the article rather than an. Thinking of /yu/ to be a two-sound vowel helps to
distinguish it from /u/ for learning purposes.

The Vowel-Consonant-e (VCe) pattern

A spelling pattern that is true for all long vowel sounds is the Vowel-Consonant-e (VCe)
pattern. The VCe pattern states that when a single vowel is followed by a single consonant,
then the letter 'e', the first vowel is pronounced as a long vowel sound and the letter 'e' is
silent.

Vowel-consonant-e spelling examples

long a /eɪ/: late /leɪt/ long

e /i/: delete /də lit/ long i
/ɑɪ/: kite /kɑɪt/ long o
/oʊ/: note /noʊt/
long u /yu/: cute /kyut/
 Introduction to Short Vowels
What makes a sound a short vowel?

The term short vowel is used to refer to the sounds that most often correspond to the letters
'a,' 'e,' 'i,' 'o,' and 'u' when the vowel occurs individually between consonants
(ConsonantVowel-Consonant, or CVC pattern). It is important to note that the term short
is not referring to the length of time the vowel sound is pronounced—it is merely a
label.

When learning the common spellings of vowel sounds, note that long vowels--not short
vowels--often have a silent 'e' at the end of a word (see the long vowel VCe pattern).

Listen to the following sounds and words for to become familiar with pronouncing these
challenging sounds.

short a /æ/: cat /kæt/ (pronounce it, spell it, practice it)
short e /ɛ/: bed /bɛd/ (pronounce it, spell it, practice it)
short i /ɪ/: sit /sɪt/ (pronounce it, spell it, practice it) short
o /ɑ/: top /tɑp/ (pronounce it, spell it, practice it)
short u /ʌ/: sun /sʌn/ (pronounce it, spell it, practice it) (its sound like Son)
The Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) pattern

All of the short vowel key words use the Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) pattern. The
CVC pattern states that when a single vowel is between two consonants, the vowel is
pronounced as a short vowel sound (if the letter 'e' follows the second consonant, the vowel
will be pronounced as a long vowel sound due to the Vowel-Consonant-e pattern).

Additionally, when a vowel is pronounced with a short vowel sound, it may be followed by
two consonants. Both consonants are not necessary for short vowel identification purposes
but do often offer an additional clue that the particular sound in that instance is a short vowel
sound.

The CVC pattern still applies when a word begins with a vowel sound and is followed by one
or more consonants.

Consonant-vowel-consonant spelling examples

short a /æ/: back /bæk/, at /æt/

short e /ɛ/: bend /bɛnd/, end
/ɛnd/ short i /ɪ/: sick /sɪk/, it /ɪt/
short o /ɑ/: lock /lɑk/, opt /ɑpt/
short u /ʌ/: such /sʌʧ/, us /ʌs/

It must be remembered when applying spelling patterns to English pronunciation there is

the possibility that two or more pronunciations may have the same spelling. For instance,
when the letter 'o' is between two consonants there are three potential pronunciations:
'short o' (top), 'long o' (most), and 'aw sound' (dog). Consulting a dictionary is the only way
to be certain of the pronunciation of an unfamiliar word.
Review
La ¨E¨ is very important without it, the meaning of the word change
completely.
 Anexo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBQojV1rH38
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8bpGyT7f5k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjZ2HI4hoAI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7I4WdkDuTDU&pbjreload=10