Template:Pronunciation of the letter A


 * So-called “long a”, IPA phoneme /eɪ/, as in face, facing or famous
 * “Short” "ar" sound, phoneme /ɑː/ in Received Pronunciation, as in start, bar or barred
 * “Long” "ar" sound, IPA phoneme /eə/, as in care, caring or parent

It also can be pronounced  as in all &mdash; plus other, less common pronunciations, sometimes in combination with other letters, and, of course, it can be used as schwa. There are some helpful rules (to be taken with the habitual pinch of salt).

It is also very much one of those cases in which teachers, whichever their preferences might be, need to point out the differences between RP (/ɑː/) and American (/æ/) pronunciations regarding, particularly with words like bath and past, while pointing out, of course, that most native British English speakers do, in fact, pronounce them /æ/.

As a single letter
See main article IPA phoneme /æ/.

One consonant
The following words have "a" followed by one consonant sound.
 * Last syllable
 * /æ/: exam, Japan -
 * /ə/: African, American, dollar, final, human, legal, local, organ, popular, several, similar, total, woman


 * Other syllable
 * /æ/ balance - damage - January - manage - natural - rapid - value
 * /eɪ/: basic - capable - Danish - famous - label - nature - paper - razor - tomato


 * /ɔː/: water
 * /e/: any - many - Thames
 * /ə/: about - above - again - alone - among - another
 * Unstressed /ɪ/: garbage - spinach

Double consonant
The following words have "a" followed by the same duplicate consonant (or "ck").
 * /æ/: channel - classic - gallery - grammar - happy - jacket - passage - passenger - programme - traffic
 * /ɑː/: giraffe
 * /ɒ/: wallet
 * /ə/: afford - appeal - appear

Several consonants
The following words have "a" followed by two or more different consonant sounds.
 * /æ/: anger - angry - attack - battle - capture - factor - relax
 * /ɑː/: advantage - after - answer - basket - example - father - rather
 * /ɔː/: almost - already - also - alter - always
 * /ɒ/: quantity - wander
 * /ə/. At beginning (including many verbs): acquire - admire - agree
 * as part of suffix -able: capable - likeable - probable;


 * /eɪ/: able - ancient - danger - stranger - table
 * Derived forms: changing - pasted - pasting - tasted - tasting - wasted - wasting

One syllable

 * /ɑː/: bra - spa

Several syllables

 * /ə/: area - camera - comma - formula - idea - opera
 * Africa - America - Argentina - Barbara - China - Colombia - Jessica - Montana - Russia

Silent A

 * basically - logically - practically - typically

With magic e

 * So-called “long a”, /eɪ/: ache - age - bake - blame - brake - cake - date - escape - estimate (v.) - face - fake - game - gate - late - lake - male - make - name - pale - plate - sale - same - sane - shake - snake - state - take - trade - wake - whale
 * Two consonant sounds (unusual use of magic e): change - paste - strange - taste - waste

With silent e

 * /ɪ/: advantage - average - garbage - image - language - manage - village
 * /ə/: chocolate - estimate (n.) - private - purchase
 * The word "forbade".
 * The past tense of "forbid" has several variants.
 * British English: forbade /fərˈbæd/
 * American English:
 * forbade /fərˈbæd, fərˈbeɪd/
 * forbad /fərˈbæd/

"ae"

 * /eɪ/: Mae - reggae /ˈreɡeɪ/ - sundae /ˈsʌndeɪ, ˈsʌndɪ/

"ae" in words of Greek origin
In words derived from Greek via Latin "ae" is pronounced /iː/, /ɪ/, /e/ or /ə/. Alternative spellings are "æ" (as in "æstetics") in British English and "e" (as in "esthetics") in American English. Some "ae" words can only be spelled with "e" in American English (such as "hemoglobin").
 * "ae" in British English
 * /iː/ or /ɪ/: archaeology
 * /iː/: aesthetic (also /e/) - anaesthesia or anesthesia - Caesar /ˈsiːzər/ - haemoglobin - hyena or hyaena - orthopaedic or orthopedic - paediatrician
 * /ɪ/: Caesarean section
 * /e/: aesthetic (also /iː/)
 * /ə/: gynaecologist
 * Corresponding words in American English
 * /iː/ or /ɪ/: archaeology or archeology
 * /iː/: aesthetic or esthetic - anesthesia or anaesthesia - Caesar /ˈsiːzər/ - hemoglobin - hyena or hyaena - orthopedic or orthopaedic - pediatrician
 * /ɪ/: Cesarean section or Caesarean section
 * /e/: aesthetic or esthetic
 * /ə/: gynecologist

"ai"

 * /eɪ/:
 * /e/: again (also /əˈɡeɪn/) - said

"ay"

 * /eɪ/: day - pay - play - May - say - stay - tray
 * /e/: says

"au"
See main article Decoding exercises: "au"
 * /ɔː/: August - author - autumn - caught - cause - daughter - taught;
 * /ɒ/: Aussie - Australia - Austria;
 * /ɑː/ : aunt - laugh

"aw"

 * /ɔː/: draw - law - raw - saw
 * /ɔɪ/: lawyer /ˈlɔːjər, ˈlɔɪər/

"ar"

 * /ɑː/: are - art - car - card - carpet - dark - far - garden - large - market - park - part - start
 * /ɔː/: quarter - war
 * /eə/
 * area - Mary - parent - various
 * With magic e: aware - care - compare - declare - prepare - rare - share - software - square - stare


 * /æ/: apparent - character - charity - comparison - paragraph - parallel
 * /ə/: arise - around - career - cigarette - preparation


 * "arr"
 * /æ/: barrier - carry - embarrass - marriage - marry - narrative - narrow
 * /ɒ/: warrant - warranty
 * /ə/: arrange - arrest - arrive

Homophones

 * /æ/: ad - add;


 * /eɪ/: brake - break; grate - great; male - mail; plane - plain; rain - reign; sail - sale; stake - steak; tale - tail; waste - waist; Wales - whales; way - weigh; wait - weight; wade - weighed
 * //: bare - bear; pair - pear;
 * /ɔː/: clause - claws; pause - paws;

Different pronunciations in the same word

 * Africa/African - America/American - Australia/Australian - Austria/Austrian - average - character - language

Anticipated pronunciation difficulties depending on L1
Preconceived ideas and other interferences from L1 obviously interfere in many cases with how students perceive - and pronounce - sounds/words in English. The following sections aims to point out some of the most typical difficulties teachers and students may encounter regarding pronunciation.

Spanish
Many Spanish speakers will try, instinctively, to pronounce it either as /eɪ/ or as [a] (which sounds similar to /ʌ/ or /æ/). This is particularly problematic for words such as want, what or water or for the schwa.

Many cognates that have /eɪ/ in English have [a] in Spanish. If the word is not common, such as "matrix" (Spanish matriz) it is very likely that Spanish speakers will try to pronounce it with. Even some loan words are transcribed using spelling pronunciation in Spanish. For example the spelling cáterin was proposed as a transcription of "catering", but would be more similar to the English pronunciation.