What are vowels in English?
There are only 5 Vowels in English, out of these five letters we get two categories, long and short vowels, but what are they? And why are they important? Let’s find out.
Definition of vowels.
Vowel letters in English are the letters that come out of the mouth without being blocked by the tongue, lips, or throat. The five letters are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes the letter Y is considered a vowel, while all the other letters are consonants.
Importance of understanding vowels in English.
The vowel letters in English are five only, however, they are essential to earn and understand as they are the key to spelling, writing, and pronouncing words correctly. Also, they play a big role in Grammar and how a word is conjugated.
What are the five vowel letters in English?
The five vowel letters are a, e, i, o, u, and sometimes the letter Y is considered a vowel based on how it’s used. When it’s being used as a constant it has its own sound which is produced when the rear of the tongue touches the top of the mouth like in the word, yellow, and boy.
But when the letter Y is used as a vowel it can either sound like a long or short sound of the letters e and i. some examples are: my (long i), and lady (long e). because y is considered a vowel sometimes, some words can include y only without any other vowel, unlike the rest of the constants that necessitate the presence of a vowel.
There are only 5 English vowels, however, the English Vowel Combinations produce a variety of sounds. And they are divided into two categories, long and short vowels.
What are The short vowels sound in English?
Short English Vowel Sounds are easy to understand. They are usually found when there is only one vowel in the word. Here are the English Vowel Rules for pronouncing short vowels:
A is pronounced as ‘ah’ as in ‘apple’
E is pronounced as ‘eh’ as in ‘egg’
I is pronounced as ‘ih’ as in ‘insect’
O is pronounced as ‘awe’ as in ‘bog’
U is pronounced as ‘uh’ as in ‘tug’
Here are some examples for your English Vowel Practice:
a as in cat
e as in wet
i as in big
o as in clock
u as in but
What are The long vowels sound in English?
Long vowels are a bit complex but not that hard to understand. Mostly they are produced by combining two vowels where one of them is silent, and they are pronounced like the name of the vowel. Here are some examples:
- cake
- street
- like
- phone
- use
- bead
- Boat.
The other way to form a long vowel sound is when the vowel e is placed at the end of the word, for example,
- Bake
- Bike
- Mote
- mute
What’s the difference between short and long vowels?
There are only five vowels but they produce a variety of sounds based on how they are used. Mostly when a vowel come alone in a word they make a short vowel sound. But when they are combined with another vowel they make a long vowel sound, and one of the two vowels is silent.
Is y a vowel or not?
The letter y can sometimes be used as a vowel. When it’s being used as a constant it has its own sound which is produced when the rear of the tongue touches the top of the mouth like in the word, yellow, and boy. But when the letter Y is used as a vowel it can either sound like a long or short sound of the letters e and i.
Importance of Understanding Vowel Sounds.
Vowels in English are essential to understanding and learning how to spell, write and pronounce a word. To learn the different sounds, you have to learn the vowels first. Also, they play a big role in Grammar and how a word is conjugated.
Long and short vowel sounds list
| short A | long A |
| can | cane |
| back | bake |
| plan | plane |
| snack | snake |
| tap | tape |
| fad | fade |
| cat | Kate |
| mad | made |
| rat | rate |
| Sam | same |
| short E | long E |
| bet | beat/beet |
| bed | bead |
| met | meet |
| Ben | bean |
| pet | Pete |
| men | mean |
| set | seat |
| ten | teen |
That’s it for today’s article, for more information or if you have any questions visit our website Studio English.
