English Pronunciation | The Letter 'A' | 9 Ways to Pronounce the Letter A

00:17:37
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjrhyKV6ALQ

Summary

TLDRIn this lesson, James introduces the letter 'A' and its seven different pronunciations in English. He explains each sound with examples, phonetic transcriptions, and practice sentences. The sounds include the short 'a' as in 'cat', the diphthong 'air' as in 'care', the long 'a' as in 'father', and others. The lesson also covers the schwa sound, silent 'A', and rare pronunciations. Viewers are encouraged to practice with sentences that incorporate all the sounds and to subscribe for future lessons.

Takeaways

  • 🔤 Seven ways to pronounce 'A' in English.
  • 🐱 Short 'a' as in 'cat'.
  • 💨 Diphthong 'air' as in 'care'.
  • 👨‍👧 Long 'a' as in 'father'.
  • 🏛️ 'A' pronounced as 'all' in 'call'.
  • 💵 'A' as in 'pay' and 'table'.
  • 🌍 Schwa sound in unstressed syllables.
  • 🔍 Rare 'A' as 'e' in 'any'.
  • 🤫 Silent 'A' in 'basically'.
  • ❓ 'A' pronounced as 'o' in 'what'.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    In this lesson, James introduces the series on English sounds, starting with the letter 'A'. He explains that there are seven different pronunciations for this letter in English. The first sound is the short 'a' as in 'cat', demonstrated with a practice sentence.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:00

    The second sound is the diphthong 'air' as in 'care', with a focus on the mouth movement required to produce the sound. The third sound is the long 'a' as in 'father', emphasizing the wide mouth position. The fourth sound is 'aw' as in 'law', which is a long vowel sound, and James provides a practice sentence for this sound.

  • 00:10:00 - 00:17:37

    The lesson continues with the fifth sound, the long 'a' as in 'pay', followed by the sixth sound, which is a short 'a' in words like 'private'. The seventh sound is the schwa sound, the most common pronunciation of 'a' in unstressed syllables. James concludes with a practice sentence that incorporates all seven sounds and discusses rare pronunciations and silent 'a' in certain words.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • How many ways can the letter 'A' be pronounced in English?

    There are seven ways to pronounce the letter 'A' in English.

  • What is the first sound of 'A' discussed in the lesson?

    The first sound is the short 'a' as in 'cat' or 'rack'.

  • What is a diphthong?

    A diphthong is a combination of two vowel sounds, such as the 'air' sound in 'care'.

  • What is the schwa sound?

    The schwa sound is the most common vowel sound in English, often represented as 'ə' and occurs in unstressed syllables.

  • Can the letter 'A' be silent in any words?

    Yes, the letter 'A' can be silent in words like 'basically' and 'separately'.

  • What is an example of a rare pronunciation of 'A'?

    In words like 'any' and 'many', the 'A' can be pronounced as an 'e' sound.

  • What is the significance of the sentence 'an average father may share all he has'?

    This sentence contains all seven sounds of 'A' for practice.

  • What is the exception for the pronunciation of 'A' in the word 'what'?

    In 'what', the 'A' is pronounced as an 'o' sound.

  • What should viewers do to keep up with the series?

    Viewers should like and subscribe to the channel to not miss future lessons.

  • What is the next letter to be covered in the series?

    The next letter to be covered is 'B'.

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Subtitles
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  • 00:00:00
    hello and welcome back to easy english
  • 00:00:02
    with james in this new series we are
  • 00:00:05
    going to look at all of the sounds of
  • 00:00:09
    english we're going to do it by looking
  • 00:00:11
    at the alphabet and we're going to go a
  • 00:00:13
    b c
  • 00:00:14
    all the way through until you have
  • 00:00:16
    mastered every sound in english okay so
  • 00:00:20
    this is the first lesson this is the
  • 00:00:22
    letter a
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    okay if you want to know how many ways
  • 00:00:26
    this letter can be pronounced in english
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    stick with me for this lesson
  • 00:00:31
    [Music]
  • 00:00:40
    it looks like just one letter but there
  • 00:00:43
    are seven ways to pronounce this letter
  • 00:00:46
    in english
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    we're going to have a good listen today
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    at all the different ways we can
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    pronounce this sound all seven of them
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    okay starting with number one number one
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    is the a as in
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    cat
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    or
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    rack
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    or exactly
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    or even
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    actually and had
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    this is that
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    a sound ah say it with me
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    okay it looks like this the ipa
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    transcription looks like this
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    for a practice sentence with this try
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    this
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    actually that cat had exactly 10 apples
  • 00:01:29
    actually that cat had exactly 10 apples
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    lots of
  • 00:01:34
    one more time try it with me repeat this
  • 00:01:36
    after me
  • 00:01:37
    actually that cat had exactly 10 apples
  • 00:01:46
    actually that cat had exactly 10 apples
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    ok rewind if you need to practice some
  • 00:01:52
    more we're going straight to number two
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    okay number two is the a as in
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    rare
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    care
  • 00:02:03
    share
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    prepare
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    rare
  • 00:02:08
    care
  • 00:02:10
    share
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    and prepare this is that famous
  • 00:02:14
    diphthong sound air
  • 00:02:17
    air
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    diphthongs mean two sounds two vowel
  • 00:02:20
    sounds combined together so you'll
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    notice we start with that air and we end
  • 00:02:24
    with a schwa air
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    air
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    air it can be important if you want to
  • 00:02:30
    practice to move your head like this air
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    air
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    just to practice don't go around outside
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    like air air air because you'll look
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    crazy okay but the sound for this one is
  • 00:02:41
    air
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    air listen to the word care
  • 00:02:46
    care
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    or prepare
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    to practice this one repeat this
  • 00:02:53
    sentence
  • 00:02:54
    prepare to share it's rare to care
  • 00:02:58
    prepare to share it's rare to care
  • 00:03:02
    repeat after me
  • 00:03:04
    prepare to share
  • 00:03:07
    prepare to share
  • 00:03:10
    it's rare to care
  • 00:03:13
    it's rare to care
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    okay practice that one again and let's
  • 00:03:18
    go to number three the third sound
  • 00:03:21
    number three is the a as in
  • 00:03:24
    father or
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    rather or
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    car
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    or
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    bar
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    this is that long vowel sound ah
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    ah
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    mouth wide open ah
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    ah just like when you go to the doctors
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    and they ask to see your mouth ah
  • 00:03:42
    ah okay it actually sounds like the
  • 00:03:45
    letter in the alphabet r okay it's how
  • 00:03:48
    we pronounce that letter in the alphabet
  • 00:03:50
    ah
  • 00:03:52
    ah
  • 00:03:53
    ah
  • 00:03:54
    ah in british english it's not rhotic
  • 00:03:56
    which means we don't round it like this
  • 00:03:59
    we just say ah the long
  • 00:04:01
    vowel ah
  • 00:04:03
    so practice the words father
  • 00:04:07
    father and
  • 00:04:09
    rather
  • 00:04:10
    and
  • 00:04:11
    car and bar you'll notice that before
  • 00:04:14
    the letter r if the a is before r it's
  • 00:04:18
    normally always
  • 00:04:23
    okay to practice this repeat after me
  • 00:04:27
    father i'd rather not go to the bar in
  • 00:04:30
    my car
  • 00:04:32
    father i'd rather not go to the bar in
  • 00:04:35
    my car okay your turn father i'd rather
  • 00:04:38
    not go to the bar in my car
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    okay rewind again if you need to
  • 00:04:46
    practice that some more we're gonna have
  • 00:04:47
    a look at number four okay number four
  • 00:04:50
    is the a as in call
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    or hall
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    or tall
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    or even walk
  • 00:04:58
    and saw
  • 00:05:00
    and law
  • 00:05:01
    now you'll notice before a w law and saw
  • 00:05:05
    also before two l's whole and tall
  • 00:05:09
    this is when we the a is pronounced like
  • 00:05:13
    all
  • 00:05:14
    all and look at the shape of my mouth oh
  • 00:05:18
    it's that oh
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    really really long vowel sound very long
  • 00:05:23
    in english and the mouth has to sort of
  • 00:05:26
    go crush together and then down like
  • 00:05:28
    this or
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    or
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    or
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    listen
  • 00:05:33
    whole
  • 00:05:35
    tall
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    wall behind me there's a wall
  • 00:05:40
    wall
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    okay
  • 00:05:42
    to practice this sentence try this i
  • 00:05:44
    walked through the hall and i saw the
  • 00:05:47
    tall man calling the law
  • 00:05:49
    the law sometimes is a slang word for
  • 00:05:51
    the police in parts of america and some
  • 00:05:54
    parts of england so if you're saying i'm
  • 00:05:56
    calling the law it can mean i'm calling
  • 00:05:58
    the police
  • 00:05:59
    i walked through the hall and i saw the
  • 00:06:02
    tall man calling the law
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    repeat after me i walked through the
  • 00:06:07
    hall and i saw the tall man
  • 00:06:10
    calling the law
  • 00:06:15
    okay well done let's have a look at
  • 00:06:17
    number five okay number five is the a as
  • 00:06:21
    in pay
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    way
  • 00:06:24
    stay
  • 00:06:25
    cable
  • 00:06:27
    able
  • 00:06:28
    table and fable okay that a sound this
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    one's easy because it is the sound that
  • 00:06:35
    you look at that you say when you see
  • 00:06:37
    the letter a in the alphabet the letter
  • 00:06:40
    in the alphabet when we look at it we
  • 00:06:42
    say a
  • 00:06:44
    a
  • 00:06:45
    and in the ipa it looks like an e and a
  • 00:06:47
    little i okay a
  • 00:06:50
    a
  • 00:06:51
    this way
  • 00:06:52
    this way to the table
  • 00:06:56
    able
  • 00:06:57
    fable okay you'll see again that when
  • 00:07:00
    it's before b l e able fable stable
  • 00:07:04
    table it is always pronounced as an a
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    a a
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    except in some crazy words where it's at
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    the end like manageable okay manageable
  • 00:07:15
    little bit different okay
  • 00:07:17
    repeat after me i'm not able to pay the
  • 00:07:21
    cable bill
  • 00:07:22
    i'm not able to pay the cable bill
  • 00:07:28
    one more time i'm not able to pay the
  • 00:07:31
    cable bill
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    okay well done let's go straight to
  • 00:07:36
    number six
  • 00:07:37
    okay number six is the a as in words
  • 00:07:40
    like private and climate and in some
  • 00:07:44
    accidents words like legitimate as well
  • 00:07:47
    legitimate okay
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    this can often be changed for another
  • 00:07:51
    sound which we will look at as number
  • 00:07:53
    seven the schwa sound but in many
  • 00:07:56
    accents especially in britain or the uk
  • 00:08:00
    private will be pronounced with a short
  • 00:08:03
    so you'll see the a here is
  • 00:08:06
    private
  • 00:08:07
    private and climate climate okay many
  • 00:08:12
    other accents change these sounds to a
  • 00:08:14
    schwa so they'll say climate and private
  • 00:08:18
    okay
  • 00:08:19
    private and climate to have a go with
  • 00:08:22
    this sound practice this sentence
  • 00:08:24
    my views on the climate are legitimate
  • 00:08:27
    but private
  • 00:08:29
    my views on the climate are legitimate
  • 00:08:32
    but private
  • 00:08:33
    my views on the climate are legitimate
  • 00:08:36
    but private now legitimate you probably
  • 00:08:39
    don't know what that means legitimate is
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    when something is real or true okay if
  • 00:08:45
    you have a legitimate view it's a view
  • 00:08:48
    that other people will know is real and
  • 00:08:51
    truthful based on
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    real knowledge that's out there okay
  • 00:08:56
    something that is legitimate is
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    something that is not fake it's not fake
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    and it's not false legitimate okay
  • 00:09:04
    number seven is the a as in the schwa
  • 00:09:07
    sound okay number one most common sound
  • 00:09:10
    in english the schwa sound if you want
  • 00:09:12
    to practice it make sure that you look
  • 00:09:14
    for my schwa video up here but this is
  • 00:09:18
    the most common way that you'll see this
  • 00:09:19
    letter a pronounced in english whenever
  • 00:09:22
    a vowel is unstressed whenever that a is
  • 00:09:26
    not stressed especially at the beginning
  • 00:09:28
    of words like about
  • 00:09:30
    around
  • 00:09:32
    amazing okay it is a schwa sound okay
  • 00:09:36
    also in uh an um two of the most common
  • 00:09:40
    words in english a man
  • 00:09:42
    an amazing woman okay a man an amazing
  • 00:09:46
    woman
  • 00:09:49
    they are very commonly confused many
  • 00:09:51
    students of english pronounce them ah an
  • 00:09:53
    an which sounds horrible it sounds crazy
  • 00:09:56
    in english to pronounce them that way
  • 00:09:57
    make sure that you're using the schwa
  • 00:09:59
    sound
  • 00:10:02
    now a common word with this schwa sound
  • 00:10:04
    in with the letter a pronounced as a
  • 00:10:06
    schwa is banana
  • 00:10:09
    banana so try this an amazing banana
  • 00:10:13
    an amazing banana
  • 00:10:15
    an amazing banana um
  • 00:10:19
    uh
  • 00:10:20
    amazing
  • 00:10:22
    lots of schwa sounds in there
  • 00:10:24
    let's make it a little bit longer an
  • 00:10:26
    amazing banana for around a pound
  • 00:10:29
    an amazing banana for around a pound
  • 00:10:32
    a pound that looks like this it's what
  • 00:10:34
    we use it's money in england an amazing
  • 00:10:36
    banana for around a pound it must be a
  • 00:10:38
    very amazing banana to be just one pound
  • 00:10:41
    okay an amazing banana for around a
  • 00:10:44
    pound repeat after me an amazing banana
  • 00:10:47
    for around a pound
  • 00:10:49
    an amazing banana
  • 00:10:52
    for around a pound lots of schwa sounds
  • 00:10:57
    in there i wonder if you can tell me how
  • 00:10:59
    many schwa sounds are in that sentence
  • 00:11:02
    okay
  • 00:11:04
    now we're going to look at a sentence
  • 00:11:05
    which will help you practice all seven
  • 00:11:09
    of these a sounds in one sentence okay
  • 00:11:12
    this is a tough sentence i've got to
  • 00:11:14
    remember it okay so try this for an
  • 00:11:18
    amazing sentence that will help you to
  • 00:11:20
    master the a sound
  • 00:11:23
    an average father may share all he has
  • 00:11:27
    an average father may share all he has
  • 00:11:33
    an average father may share all he has
  • 00:11:37
    i want you to practice this sentence
  • 00:11:40
    100 times as many times as you can
  • 00:11:43
    because it contains every single a sound
  • 00:11:46
    and it'll also help your brain
  • 00:11:49
    understand and feel where the a sounds
  • 00:11:53
    come in this sentence what letters are
  • 00:11:56
    around the a okay
  • 00:11:58
    an average father may share all he has
  • 00:12:03
    okay
  • 00:12:04
    look at all the different a sounds in
  • 00:12:06
    that sentence
  • 00:12:08
    um you've got that uh
  • 00:12:10
    average you've got that ah and
  • 00:12:13
    in edge average okay
  • 00:12:16
    father you've got that ah
  • 00:12:18
    then may you've got a
  • 00:12:21
    a the diphthong sound a okay then you've
  • 00:12:24
    got share another diphthong
  • 00:12:27
    air share
  • 00:12:29
    all that long vowel sound super long all
  • 00:12:32
    and then he has that ah sound again at
  • 00:12:36
    the end okay practice that sentence as
  • 00:12:38
    many times as you need to
  • 00:12:41
    okay this is a bonus to this lesson and
  • 00:12:44
    in the bonus part of this lesson i'm
  • 00:12:46
    going to teach you some secrets about
  • 00:12:48
    the letter a there are some special
  • 00:12:50
    cases for example
  • 00:12:52
    you've learned all of the seven
  • 00:12:55
    ways to pronounce this a sound but there
  • 00:12:58
    is some hidden ways that are very very
  • 00:13:01
    rare
  • 00:13:02
    not including those seven sounds we can
  • 00:13:05
    also very rarely pronounce the a as an e
  • 00:13:11
    in words like any
  • 00:13:14
    and
  • 00:13:14
    many and the river in london the river
  • 00:13:17
    thames
  • 00:13:18
    okay this is very
  • 00:13:21
    very rare you will not find this very
  • 00:13:24
    much in english it will take you a long
  • 00:13:26
    time to find more than these three words
  • 00:13:28
    okay but do remember that in many
  • 00:13:32
    and any and thames
  • 00:13:35
    the a is pronounced not as any of those
  • 00:13:38
    seven sounds but as an e
  • 00:13:41
    e
  • 00:13:43
    e
  • 00:13:45
    any and the river thames
  • 00:13:49
    we also have strange words in english
  • 00:13:52
    that people always fight over how to
  • 00:13:55
    pronounce words like
  • 00:13:57
    data
  • 00:13:58
    data okay you'll see this has two a's in
  • 00:14:02
    it
  • 00:14:03
    de
  • 00:14:03
    tu
  • 00:14:04
    and many people pronounce it like that
  • 00:14:06
    with an a
  • 00:14:07
    and a
  • 00:14:08
    schwa sound at the end but there are
  • 00:14:11
    many other people who argue that is
  • 00:14:13
    wrong and it should be pronounced data
  • 00:14:17
    with a long r sound data
  • 00:14:20
    so you will hear this across the english
  • 00:14:23
    speaking world
  • 00:14:25
    about 50 percent of people will say data
  • 00:14:28
    and about 50 of people will say data
  • 00:14:31
    data data remember both data data it's
  • 00:14:35
    really good to practice three of those a
  • 00:14:38
    sounds okay you've got a as in data and
  • 00:14:42
    you've got r as in data both of them
  • 00:14:45
    finish in that schwa sound data data
  • 00:14:50
    okay now the letter a can also sometimes
  • 00:14:54
    not be pronounced at all it can be
  • 00:14:56
    silent it can be a silent a in words
  • 00:14:59
    like basically
  • 00:15:02
    that final a
  • 00:15:04
    we can't see it it's gone basically
  • 00:15:08
    basically
  • 00:15:09
    also in words like separately
  • 00:15:12
    separately you can't really hear an a in
  • 00:15:15
    there anywhere separately okay
  • 00:15:18
    separately
  • 00:15:20
    in words like automatically
  • 00:15:23
    automatically whenever you see that lly
  • 00:15:26
    and sometimes l y at the end if there's
  • 00:15:28
    an a
  • 00:15:30
    we don't need it okay that is where we
  • 00:15:32
    can see there is a silent a
  • 00:15:34
    we don't pronounce it okay repeat after
  • 00:15:37
    me
  • 00:15:38
    typically
  • 00:15:41
    typically
  • 00:15:43
    automatically
  • 00:15:46
    automatically
  • 00:15:48
    basically
  • 00:15:50
    basically
  • 00:15:52
    basically okay practice those silent
  • 00:15:56
    sounds there's not many it's usually
  • 00:15:58
    always before an l y or an lly okay but
  • 00:16:02
    remember the letter a can sometimes be
  • 00:16:04
    silent in english too
  • 00:16:06
    okay let's move on finally in the word
  • 00:16:10
    what
  • 00:16:11
    what
  • 00:16:12
    now you didn't hear this in the seven
  • 00:16:15
    sounds again but it's a very common word
  • 00:16:16
    what is your name
  • 00:16:18
    that's because this is a very particular
  • 00:16:21
    pronunciation it's one of the only words
  • 00:16:23
    in english where the letter a is
  • 00:16:25
    pronounced as an o
  • 00:16:27
    o
  • 00:16:28
    as in on or top okay is it like an o
  • 00:16:31
    sound the ipa
  • 00:16:33
    what so the last thing i want you to
  • 00:16:36
    practice today is to remember that the
  • 00:16:38
    seven a sounds
  • 00:16:40
    perfect remember them all but the word
  • 00:16:44
    what is an exception it is an o here the
  • 00:16:48
    a sound is pronounced
  • 00:16:52
    okay what did you think of that lesson i
  • 00:16:55
    hope you really enjoyed it and found it
  • 00:16:58
    useful there is another lesson the
  • 00:17:00
    letter b is next we're going to go all
  • 00:17:02
    the way through to the letter z okay the
  • 00:17:04
    letter z so stick with me if you want to
  • 00:17:07
    watch the rest of these lessons make
  • 00:17:09
    sure that you hit like and subscribe so
  • 00:17:12
    that you don't miss c d e f g h i j k l
  • 00:17:16
    m n o p q r s v rst uvw xyz okay
  • 00:17:19
    well done and i'll see you for another
  • 00:17:21
    lesson bye
  • 00:17:36
    you
Tags
  • English pronunciation
  • letter A
  • vowel sounds
  • diphthongs
  • schwa
  • silent letters
  • language learning
  • phonetics
  • practice sentences
  • English sounds