Long and short vowel sounds list pdf

229+ Long A Words (Free Printable List)

Grade 1 | Grade 2 | Long Vowels | Phonics | Vowels

ByKatie July 25, 2022October 24, 2022

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Learn all about the long A sound, including the 8 ways to spell long vowel A: a, a-e, ai, ay, ei, ea, eigh, and ey. Learn how to teach long A and get a FREE printable list of words with long A sounds organized by spelling pattern.

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Table of Contents

• All About Long A
• Long A Words
• Tips & Suggestions
• Related Posts
• Download & Print

All About Long A

Teaching students all the different ways to spell long vowels will help them become more independent, confident readers:

• Long a says /ā/ like acorn.
• Long e says /ē/ like equal.
• Long i says /ī/ like ice.
• Long o says /ō/ like ocean.
• Long u says /yoo/ like unicorn, OR /oo/ like ruler.

A is the first vowel I teach, and the long A sound can be spelled using 8 different patterns:

• The most common spellings of long A are A, A-E, AI, and AY.
• Less frequent ways to spell /ā/ are EI, EA, EIGH, and EY.

These patterns can be heard at the beginning, middle, or end of words. Long A can be spelled with a silent e, open syllable, or using a vowel team.

👉 For a free, complete, and printable list of 229 long A words, scroll to the bottom of this post and download it. But be sure to read all about long A first!

There are 8 ways to spell long A:

1. a like acorn
2. a-e like cake
3. ai like rain
4. ay like day
5. ei like reindeer
6. ea like steak
7. eigh like eight
8. ey like hey

Long A Words

Open Syllable Words

The letter A will say its name, or its long sound, when it is the last letter in a syllable. This is called an open syllable.

Long A sound word examples that include open syllables:

A-E Words (Long A Silent E)

The letter A will say its name when it follows a Vowel-Consonant-e (VCe) pattern. The E is magic, stays silent, and it makes the A say its name.

That is why we hear the long A sound in these words. This spelling pattern is used at the end of base words.

Long A silent E words:

AI Vowel Team Words

The vowel team AI is another way to spell long A. This is a spelling that usually comes in the middle of words.

I teach my students this jingle: “A-I in the middle says /ā/.” Make sure you say the letter names “A” and “I” when saying the jingle.

It is common to teach this spelling along with the vowel team AY (keep on reading below!).

Common words with long A in the middle, using the vowel team AI:

AY Vowel Team Words

The vowel team AY is another way to spell long A, and this pattern is used at the end of base words. I use this jingle with my students: “A Y at the end says /ā/.” (Again, make sure you say the letter names “A” and “Y” when saying the jingle.)

The great thing about this vowel team is that if they hear /ā/ at the end of a base or root word, it will most likely be spelled with AY.

Common words with long A at the end, using the vowel team AY:

EI, EA, EIGH, & EY Words (Vowel Teams)

These next four vowel teams are not commonly used to spell the long A sound. Be sure students have mastered the first four most common spellings for Long A before introducing these patterns.

Words with Vowel Team EI to spell long A:

• reindeer
• rein
• vein
• veil
• reign
• beige

Words with Vowel Team EA to spell long A:

• steak
• break
• great
• yea
• breakup
• outbreak

Words with Vowel Team EIGH to spell long A:

• eight
• eighty
• eighteen
• weigh
• weight
• neighbor
• freight
• sleigh
• neigh

Words with Vowel Team EY to spell long A:

• hey
• they
• obey
• grey
• prey
• survey
• convey
• disobey

Tips & Suggestions

• Before teaching long vowels, students should have a firm command of the five short vowel sounds, including all consonants, blends, and digraphs.
• Be sure to explicitly teach these long A patterns one at a time, in sequential order.
• Use a variety of activities to teach these long A spellings! Hands-on activities and multisensory activities are best.
• Get the rest of the printable Long Vowel Word Lists: Long E, Long I, Long O, and Long U!

Related Posts

• Long Vowel Anchor Chart
• Printable Long & Short Vowel Sorts
• 30 Tips for Teaching Letters & Sounds

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How is it going teaching the long vowel A? We’d love to get your feedback! Tag us on Instagram @LiteracyLearn or comment below to let us know how you’re using the words on this list.

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Long Vowel Sounds: Word Lists & Activities

Phonics | Spelling

ByDelilah Orpi

This post may contain affiliate links, and I will earn a commission if you purchase through these links. Please read the disclosure policy for more details.

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In this post, I’m breaking down long vowel sounds (or long vowel words) to help you teach them when working with struggling readers and spellers.

Looking for long vowel word lists? Download all 5 of my pdf long vowel sounds word lists in my freebies library by joining my email list below.

What is a long vowel sound?

Long vowel sounds are vowels that are pronounced the same as their name. You’ll often hear teachers say that long vowels “say their name”.

Long vowels are very common but they can be tricky because there are so many spellings for each long vowel sound.

There are actually 4 ways to make long vowel sounds:

1. Vowels at the end of a syllable make the long sound. For example, in the words me and halo (ha-lo) the vowels are all at the end of a syllable so they make the long sound.
2. Silent e makes the previous vowel long. The words bike and phone have a silent e at the end that makes the previous vowel long.
3. Vowel teams can make the long sound. Vowel teams work together to make one sound, and usually, it’s a long vowel sound. For example, boat and meat both have vowel teams that make the long sound.
4. I or O can be long when they come before two consonants. In words like cold and mind, i and o make a long vowel sound.

Long Vowel Words

Long vowel sound words are words that have vowels that say their name. Below are a few examples:

• Long a – baby, cake, rain, day, they, weigh
• Long e – me, eve, hear, meet, piece, candy
• Long i – silent, bike, light, my
• Long o – go, home, toe, boat, snow
• Long u – music, mule, pew, feud

Long A Sound

The long a sound can be represented by 8 different spelling patterns:

1. a – baby
2. a_e – cake
3. ai – rain
4. ay – play
5. ei – reindeer
6. eigh – weight
7. ea – steak
8. ey – they

Learn more about teaching the long a sound here, and check out my Long A Words Activities & Worksheets for printable activities.

Long E Sound

The long e sound can be represented by 8 different spelling patterns:

1. e – be
2. e_e – eve
3. ee – meet
4. ea – beach
5. ei – protein
6. ie – piece
7. ey – key
8. y – candy

For ideas, tips, and tricks when teaching the long e sound, read this post all about teaching the long e vowel sound, and check out my Long E Words Activities & Worksheets for printable activities.

Long I Sound

The long i sound can be represented by 6 different spelling patterns:

1. i – silent
2. i_e – shine
3. ie – pie
4. igh – light
5. y – my
6. y_e – type

You can learn more about teaching the long I sound in this post. And check out my Long I Worksheets set in my shop for printable activities on the long i sound.

Long O Sound

The long o sound can be represented by 5 different spelling patterns:

1. o – go
2. o_e – phone
3. oe – toe
4. oa – boat
5. ow – snow

You can learn more about teaching long o words and check out my long o worksheets.

Long U Sound

The long u has two sounds: yoo (/y/ /oo/) and oo (/oo/).

The long u sound can be represented by 7 different spelling patterns:

1. u – music
2. u_e – mule
3. ue – rescue
4. eu – feud
5. ew – few
6. oo – food
7. ou – soup

Learn more about teaching the long u sound here.

Tips for teaching the long vowel sounds

Teach one spelling pattern at a time!

I don’t mean one vowel sound, but just one spelling pattern. So for example, if you’re working on long a, you would work on the spelling pattern a silent e (cake, same, cave) until students have mastered it, then move on to ai, and so on. You should not be teaching multiple spelling patterns together, even though they make the same sound.

I know that most programs out there combine all the long vowel sound spelling patterns into one lesson, especially in spelling lists, but this does not work for struggling readers. You need to break it down for them and only do one at a time.

Teach the syllable types.

Because syllables have a lot to do with whether vowels make the short or long sound, if students do not already know the 6 syllable types then teach them along with the long vowel sound.

Here are resources for each syllable type:

• closed syllable
• open syllable
• final silent e syllable
• vowel team syllable
• r combination syllable
• consonant le syllable

Use a variety of activities to practice each spelling pattern.

Games, dictation, word sorts, memory or matching with flashcards, word hunts, textured writing, body spelling, and bingo are all fun ways to practice the long vowel sounds.

The main activity that is often overlooked is dictation. It seems so simple but the task involves listening to a word, deciding on the spelling, and transferring that info to written form. These are all skills that struggling readers need to practice.

Teach the spelling generalizations.

Some of the long vowel spelling patterns are spelling rules that make it easy to remember.

For example, ai is usually found at the beginning or middle of a syllable, and ay is usually found at the end of a syllable. [Examples: rain, aim, play, daytime]

Here is another example with long o: oa is usually found at the beginning or middle of a word, and ow is usually found at the end. [Examples: boat, coach, snow]

Long Vowel Word List

I made these word lists to help teach the long vowels. I find it handy to have these on hand when playing phonics games or planning activities for long vowel lessons.

Grab them for free below!

Want to remember this? Save Long Vowel Sounds: Word Lists & Activities to your favorite Pinterest board!

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Delilah Orpi

Delilah Orpi is the founder of Thrive Literacy Corner. She has a Bachelor's degree in Special Education, a Master's degree in TESOL, and is a member of the International Dyslexia Association. She is an experienced educator and literacy specialist trained in Orton Gillingham and Lindamood Bell. Delilah creates literacy resources for educators and parents and writes to create awareness about dyslexia and effective literacy instruction based on the science of reading.

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Pronunciation of vowels

Vowel sounds are reproduced exclusively by our voice . Unfortunately, there are no exact analogues of German vowels in Russian, so German vowels require special attention:
1) Vowels in German are pronounced distinctly and stably . They consist exclusively of one pure sound, which is preserved throughout its pronunciation. That is, we do not speak [oʊ] or [oɐ], but purely [oː]. This stability characterizes German vowel sounds.
2) German phonetics distinguishes long and short vowels . This means that each vowel in German has two basic sounds. A long vowel sound lengthens during pronunciation and in most cases is accompanied by tension of the organs of speech, while a short sound is pronounced as short as possible and without tension. Stressed semi-long vowels in Russian are exactly in the middle of these two variants in German in longitude.

This article considers all vowels in German and two main variants of their pronunciation.

Long sound [aː]

To pronounce the long sound, first say the Russian word "red". The Russian vowel "A" here is pronounced shorter than the long sound of this German vowel, which is pronounced even longer. For simplicity, open your mouth as wide as possible.

→ j a [jaː] (yes)
→ T a g [taːk] (day) m
022 len [ˈmaːlən] (draw)

Short sound [a]

When pronouncing a short sound, the mouth should not be opened so wide. Say the Russian word "mother". Now pronounce the vowel sound as short as possible and get the German short vowel sound of this vowel.

→ M A NN [Man] (man)
→ W A S [VAS]
→ A Lle [ˈalə] (all)

<Ää>

Long sound [ɛː]

, however, this sound can be compared with the Russian vowel “E” its pronunciation should be wider, the back of the tongue is further from the upper palate, and the sound itself is pronounced longer.

→ ä Ra [ˈɛːʁa] (era)
→ K ä se [ˈkɛːzə] (cheese)
→ R
→ R
→ R0021 ä tsel [ˈʁɛːʦəl] (riddle)

Short sound [ɛ]

When pronouncing a short analogue, nothing changes in sound except for longitude. We close our mouth a little and pronounce it as briefly as possible.

→ H ä nde [ˈhɛndə] (Hands)
→ ä STE [ˈɛStə] (branches) 9000 → K mmen [ˈkɛmən

Long sound [iː]

When pronouncing a long sound, the tip of the tongue touches the lower teeth, and the back of the tongue is as close as possible to the upper palate. This sound is pronounced as long as possible, that is, longer than in the Russian word "y". To simplify, stretch your lips as much as possible.

→ K i no [ˈkiːno] (movie)
→ I gel [ˈiːgəl] (hedgehog)
→ B i bel [ˈbiːbəl] (Bible)

Short sound [ɪ]

Short sound [ɪ]

9003 in short, with the back of the tongue moving away from the upper palate. This sound is on the border with the short sound of the vowel "Ä" and resembles the second sound in the Russian word "hours".

→ i n [ɪn] (c)
→ H i lfe [ˈhɪlfə] (assistance)
→ W I SSEN [ˈvɪsən] (Know)

9000 9000 Long sound [Eː]

9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 the back of the tongue is closer to the palate than when pronouncing [ɛː], but further than when pronouncing [iː], i. e., an average sound is obtained between them. Here you can feel the tension of the organs of speech.

→ S ee [zeː] (Lake)
→ W E N [VEːN] (whom)
→ L E Ben [ˈleːbən] (Live)

9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 9000 The short sound is the same as the short sound of the vowel "Ä".

→ W E NN [vɛn] (if, when)
→ E NDE [ˈɛndə] (end)
→ N E TT [nɛt] (nɛt] 9ATHER cute, friendly)

Long sound [oː]

When pronouncing a long sound, we stretch our lips forward and round them, and only a small hole remains between the lips. This hole is even smaller than the Russian vowel "O" in the word "rose".

→ R O SE [ˈʁoːzə] (rose)
→ W O [VOː] (where)
→ PA [ˈOːPA] (grandmother)0036

→ ö ffnen [ˈˈfnən] (open)
→ ZW ö LF [ʦvœLF]
→ L FFEL [ˈ ˈ ˈl] [ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈ ˈl

Long sound [uː]

Like the long sound [oː], we round the lips, but here we almost close them. The opening of the mouth should be open enough so that the sound is barely made. It resembles the first sound in the Russian word "angle", but is pronounced much clearer and longer.

→ d u [duː] (you)
→ Bl u me [ˈbluːmə] (flower)0021 u t [guːt] (good)

→ K ü Ssen [ˈkʏsən] (kissing)
→ F ü NF (five)
→ M ü [mʏl] [mʏl] [mʏl] [mʏl] [mʏl] [mʏl] )

(as a vowel)

As a vowel, it can have the same sounds as the vowels <Ü> and .

→ T Y P [Tyːp] (Type)
→ Y PSILON [ˈʏPSILɔN] (Igrek)
→ [ˈhɔhɔhɔhɔhbi] (ˈhɔhɔhɔhɔhba] (ˈhɔhɔhɔhɔhɔhba] [ˈhɔhɔhɔhɔhɔhb

Notes: ► In order to accurately determine the sound of each vowel and understand the difference between long and short vowels, you need to listen to audio recording ! ► The pronunciation of vowels in this lesson is literary . In many parts of Germany, as well as in other German-speaking countries, there are also dialectical deviations regarding certain sounds. ► The names of German vowels are at the same time their with long sounds , i.e. as in alphabet . ► There are no German words without vowels, i.e. every German word has at least one vowel (with the exception of some interjections). ► When it is not possible to type umlauts on the keyboard, or when words are entered into a crossword puzzle , then the umlauts <Ä>, <Ö> and <Ü> are replaced by letter combinations , and . However, at official texts these options are incorrect . ► The value of a certain word may even depend on the longitude or shortness of individual vowels, i.e. it is quite possible that if you pronounce such words incorrectly, the German will not understand you, therefore it is recommended to learn to distinguish between these two sounds. ► The long sound [ɛː] (represented by the letter <Ää>) in spoken language is most often replaced by the long sound of the vowel (i.e. [eː]), although this variant is and are not quite correct. ► For a better understanding of the difference in sounds: when pronouncing the long sounds of the vowels , <Ä>, and in a row, the mouth closes more and becomes wider along the line of the corners of the lips. And the back of the tongue is getting closer and closer to the upper palate: [aː]->[ɛː]->[eː]->[iː] (see image above). ► Although the letter is a consonant, it is most often used as a vowel letters. ► Looking at the international transcription of the long and short vowels from this lesson, the following is observed: The long and short vowels and <Ä> differ only in in the longitude of represented by one additional character. That is, in fact, we are talking about the same sound, which in some words is simply stretched. A = [aː], [a] Ä = [ɛː], [ɛ] As for the remaining vowels, we see from the transcription that both pronunciations differ not only in their longitude , but also in their quality . That is, it is not enough to stretch or shorten the same sound here, since we are talking about two different sounds. E = [eː], [ɛ] I = [iː], [ɪ] O = [oː], [ɔ] Ö = [øː], [œ] U = [uː], [ʊ] Ü = [yː], [ʏ] ► Since long and short vowels are not distinguished in Russian, native Russian speakers who begin to learn German usually perceive the former simply as an accent or unusual intonation. Attention: word stress is independent of vowel length/shortness. ► You will find information about which vowel is pronounced in what cases in other articles of the current section (Phonetics).

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General phonetic rules

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Have you ever wondered why German seems to be such a harsh and hard language? It depends on certain points that Russian speakers learning German should pay attention to.
This article presents the most important rules for German phonetics, starting with general information and ending with more specific ones. By putting them into practice, you can significantly improve your German pronunciation.

1. Intonation

a) In contrast to Russian, in German almost every word is pronounced separately, which resembles the staccato rhythm in music.

b) The contrast between stressed and unstressed syllables in German is much greater than in Russian: stressed syllables are emphasized more sharply and intensely, while unstressed syllables are muffled and pronounced weaker.

c) Germans are used to accentuating the main parts of speech in a sentence: nouns, adjectives, full-valued verbs, numerals, interrogative and demonstrative pronouns. Functional parts of speech, like articles, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliary verbs, personal and possessive pronouns, in turn, are not accentuated.

d) In Russian speech there is a sharp change between sound pitches, while the Germans in their speech remain at the same pitch for a long time. Russian intonation moves within an octave, while German intonation moves within a fifth.

2. Word stress

Unlike Russian stress, in German it is fixed, i.e. the stress is not transferred from one syllable to another if the form of the word changes.

As a rule, it falls on the first root syllable:
→ SPRA CHE [ˈʃPχAːχə] (language)
→ ES SEN [ˈɛSən] (Eat, eat)
→ glück lich [ˈɡlʏklɪç] (happy, happy)
→ al les [ˈaləs] (all)

However, there are many words with certain prefixes and suffixes that take on the stress.

3. Unstressed vowels

Unlike the Russian language, where unstressed vowels are pronounced differently than stressed vowels, German vowels are not reduced and are pronounced in the same way as stressed vowels, only for a shorter duration.

→ ST AA T [ʃTAːT] ~ S A DT [ʃTAT] (state ~ city)
→ B EE [beːt] ~ b E tt [bɛt] (flower bed, beds ~ bed)
→ M IE TE [ˈMIːTə] ~ M I TTE [ˈMɪTə] (lease ~ middle) HLE [ˈhøːlə] ~ H ö lle [ˈhœlə] (cave ~ hell)

5. Long vowels

Vowel Sound is a long ...

... In the case of a double vowel:
→ ID EE [ˈDE:] (idea)
→ D OO F [DO: F] (stupid (person) )
→ H AA R [Haːɐ] (Hair (Six ))

...before a silent that precedes a consonant /// or is at the end of a word:
→ O H Ne [ˈoːnə] (without)
→ F A Ren [ˈfaːʁən] (go, drive, drive)
h [ʃuː] (boot)

... Before the consonant letter <ß>:
→ STR ß E [ˈʃTχAːsə] (street)
→ GR ü ß en [ˈɡʁyːsən] (greet, send greetings)
→ bl o ß [bloːs] ((one) only)

>,
, , :
→ Z E BR A [ˈTSEːBʁA] (Zebra)
→ J A [Jaːkt] (hunt (chase) )
→ K E KS [KEːKS] (cookies)

. .. In an open syllable:
→ N A ME [ˈnaːmə] (name) 9000 l E SEN [
→ T A G [TAːK] (day) ~ T A GE
→ R O T [ʁOːT] (Red) ~ 9000 R O TES
U N [tuːn] (do) ~ t U

6. Brief vowels

9000
→ P and PP E [ˈPʊPə] (doll)
→ SCHN E LL [ʃnɛl] (fast)
→ H O FF EN [ˈH (Hope)

... Before the consonant letter :
→ H E x E [ˈhɛksə] (witch)
→ B O x EN [ˈbɔksən] (to box)
→ A x t [akst] (axe)

. ..before , , , , , :
→ K O PF [KɔPF] (head)
→ N I T [nɪçt]
→ W 9000 Sch Sch Sch Sch SCH SCH SCH SCH SCH SCH SCH SCH SCH SCH en [ˈvaʃən] (wash, wash)

... in a closed syllable:
→ U ND [ʊnt] (and)
→ F I N DEN [ˈFɪNDən]
→ K A LT [ Kalt] (cold, cold)

7. Half -long vowels

vowel sound is semi -long ...

... In an unstressed open syllable:
→ AK K U [ˈaku] (battery)
→ D I Rekt [DIˈʁɛKT] (directly, direct)
→ PH Y 9000 SIK [FYˈZIːK] (Physics E Batte [deˈbatə] (debate, dispute)
→ AU T O Matisch [AʊtoˈMAːTɪʃ]

8. Double consent0022

Double consonants in German are always pronounced as single consonants, in contrast to Russian, where they can be lengthened in certain cases.

→ A NN A [ˈana] (Anna)
→ KA SS E [ˈkasə] (cash desk)
→ SUS MM E [ˈzʊmə] ( )

9. Voiceless aspirated consonants

In Russian, the consonants <К>, <Т> and <П> are slightly pronounced as [g], [d] and [b]. However, the German counterparts , , and

are pronounced heavily aspirated in most cases.

As in Russian, German voiced consonants lose their voice in certain cases.

at the end of the word/syllable:
→ GEL D [ɡɛlt] (money)
→ Tä G 9000 Lich [ˈTɛːKLɪS] (now) (now) → A b ga s [ˈapɡaːs] (exhaust gas)

Before a voiceless consonant within a word:
→ ABEN D S [Aːbənts] (in the evenings)
→ O B T [OːPST] (fruits)
[ɡəˈvaːkt] (risky, risky)

11. Assimilation of consonants

When consonants occur at the end and at the beginning of a word or syllable, they are likened to the usual tempo of speech. There are two types of assimilation - complete and partial.

Consistent, consonants with the same place of articulation are completely merged:
→ Mi T T Ina [mɪˈtiːna] (with tina)
→ A M M ONTAG [Aˈmoːntak] (Monday) 0021 [aʊˈfiːdɐzeən] (goodbye)

with partial likening the deafness of the consonant at the end of the word is transferred to the first consonant of the next word, which automatically loses its sonority:
→ Bi S D [bɪsˈsˈstan] (until the meeting)
→ SEI T G ESTERN [zaɪtˈkɛstɐn] (from yesterday)
→ A B AMSTAG [APˈSAMSTAK] (from Saturday)
→ Dan K B EN [Daŋkˈpɛn] (thanks to Ben)

12. Lack of mitigation of consonants

In the Russian language there is a phenomenon of mitigation of agreements, Napr. in the word "shadow" ([tʲenʲ]). In this regard, soft and hard consonants are distinguished. In German, however, no softening of consonants ever occurs.

→ Ti sch [tɪʃ] (table)

at the beginning of the word:
→ I N A Sien [ ʔ ɪnˈ ʔ Aːziən] (in Asia)
→
→
→
→
→
→ [ʔʊmˈʔaɪns] (per hour)
→ AU ßer O PA [ AʊSɐˈ ʔ (except for grandparents) (except for grandparents) (except [filˈ ʔ ɛŋɐ] (much already/closer)

inside the word:
→ ER I Nnerung [ ʔ ʔ ɐˈ ʔ ɪnɐʁʊŋ] (memory, reminder)
→ The A Ter [Teˈ ʔ Aˈtɐ] (theater)
- eːt] (poet)
→ Ver EI SEN [Fɛɐˈ ʔ Aɪzən]/[Fɐˈ ʔ Aɪzən] 9000 666 (LEXT indentation

In German, short and long vowels attach differently to the consonants that follow them. Long vowels join consonants more smoothly (as in Russian), while short vowels join consonants more abruptly, with the consonant stopping the sound of the vowel. This phenomenon is called "strong indentation" and is explained by the fact that short vowels mostly appear in closed syllables.

→ Schal [ʃaːl] ~ Sch A LL [ʃal] (scarf ~ sound)
→ FETE [ Festival ~ Fat)
→ koma [ˈkoːma] ~ k o mma [ˈkɔma] (coma ~ comma)
→ Hüte [ˈhyːtə] ~ h üul [ (hats ~ hut, hut)

15. Shva

In many languages ​​there are so-called reduced shva sounds. There are two such sounds in German.

The first of these is always displayed with the letter and occurs exclusively in unstressed syllables. As certain unstressed prefixes and suffixes, this letter, at a normal rate of speech, seems to be “swallowed”, as, for example, the first <О> in the Russian word “milk”, i. e., it is practically inaudible. The quality of her pronunciation depends only on the rate of speech:
→ b E Reit [bəˈʁaɪt] (ready, ready)
→ LEB E N [ˈleːbən] (live) E M [ˈAAːTá (Breath)
→ Ig E L [ˈiːɡəl] (Hedgehog)
→ Aug E [ˈaʊgə] (Eye) E e [ ] (vegetables)

The second schwa sound in German is the middle of [a], [ɔ] and [ə]. This sound can be displayed either by the letter , or by a combination of letters , namely at the end of a word or syllable. This means that the consonant letter in such cases is vocalized:
→ Fü r [FYːɐ] (for)
→ Wi R [VIːɐ] (we)
→ Natu R [Naˈtu: ɐ] (ɐ] (ɐ] (ɐ] ( Nature)
→ Frisö R [Fifts of ’Zuffa] (hairdresser)
→ Mutte R /Mutt ER [ˈmʊtɐ] (mother) (mother) (mother) (mother) (mother) (mother) (mother) (Mother gessen/v er gessen [fɛɐˈgɛsən]/[fɐˈgɛsən] (forget)

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Notes: ► For a better understanding of all the rules you need to listen to the audio ! ► These rules are a general overview and after the first acquaintance do not need to be memorized, because understanding and ability to apply many points comes only in the process of studying and practice . ► The concept of "hard and soft consonants" has 9 in Russian and German0004 are completely different values. The German language simply means voiceless and voiced consonants, so if a German insists that "the consonant is soft and the consonant is hard", then don't be surprised. ► Unlike modern German, to which the rules in this article correspond, before the first stage of the German spelling reform, the consonant letter <ẞ> was most often placed after short vowels. Accordingly, older people still combine it with short vowels, which introduces foreigners learning German into delusion . More information on this topic can be found in the Spelling section. ► Singing - art that does not reflect real speech. Since the German speech itself is less melodic, some of the moments indicated in this article (for example, a hard attack), for a more melodic sound when singing , are excluded.

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