Decoding the letter G

The letter G, lowercase g or g (pronounced /dʒiː/) normally represents the sound /g/ (game, get, girl, glass, great, gun, bag), except before "e", "i" or "y" where it often represents /dʒ/ (germ, change, imagine, energy).

"Ga", "go", "gu", etc.
"G" sounds /g/ everywhere with many exceptions in "ge", gi", and "gy", i.e. followed by "a", "o", "u" or a consonant, or at the end of the word, it is almost sure that "g" sounds /g/.


 * At the beginning of the word:
 * "ga", "go", "gu": gain, game, gap, garden, gas, gasp, gather, go, goal, gold, gone, good, government, gun
 * "gl", "gr": glass, global, great, green, Greece, ground, group, grow, growth


 * In the middle of the word: again, against, ago, agree, argue, argument, degree, figure, ignore, legal, organization, pregnant, program, recognize, regard, regular, segment, signal, significant, single, struggle


 * At the end of the word: bag,, , dig, dog, drag, drug, egg, flag, leg, log, pig

Silent u

 * Redundant silent u: catalogue, colleague, dialogue, guard, guarantee, league
 * Before "e", "i" or "y": guess, guest, guide, guilty, Guinea, guitar, guy

Exceptions as /dʒ/

 * margarine
 * the old spelling "gaol" currently is replaced by "jail", except in proper names, such as Derby Gaol.

"Ge", "gi" or "gy"
As /g/
 * begin, eager, finger, forget, gear, geese, get, gift, giggle, girl, give, gynaecology, gynecology, meager (British spelling is meagre), target, tiger, together

As /dʒ/
 * agency, agent, Algeria, Argentina, arrange, Belgium, Egypt, danger, emerge, energy, engine, engineer, gel, gem, gender, gene, general, generation, George, germ, Germany, giant, gibberish, gist, gym, gynaecology, gynecology, imagine, intelligence, legislation, management, manager, marriage, Nigeria, original, package, passenger, percentage, region, register, religion, strategy, suggest, technology, Virginia


 * Ending in "ge" (see also silent e): advantage, age, average, challenge, change, charge, college, damage, encourage, engage, exchange, gentleman, huge, image, language, large, manage, message, page, passage, range, stage, strange, urge, village, wage

As /ʒ/

All English words that have IPA phoneme /ʒ/ spelled as "g" are of foreign origin, mainly French.
 * beige - collage - gendarme - massage - mirage - rouge - sabotage

As /ʒ/ or /dʒ/
 * garage

"gg"
In most cases "gg" sounds /g/, even before "e", "i" or "y"


 * As /g/: bigger, buggy, dagger, foggy, mugger, nugget, piggy, ragged /ˈræɡɪd/, trigger
 * past tense of verbs and -ing form: bagged, bagging, begged, begging, dragged, dragging, drugged, drugging, hugged, hugging, plugged, plugging


 * As /dʒ/: exaggerate
 * suggest: /səˈdʒst, səgˈdʒst/

Silent "g"
For silent "gh" see Decoding exercises: "gh"
 * "gn": assign - campaign - design - foreign - gnat - gnome - gnostic - gnu - resign - sign
 * "gm": diaphragm - paradigm - phlegm

G in combinations

 * "dge", "dgi" as /dʒ/
 * acknowledge, bridge, budget, dodge, edge, fidget, gadget, judge, knowledge, pidgin, wedgie


 * "dg" before a consonant as /dʒ/ (mainly American spelling)
 * abridgement/abridgment, acknowledgement/acknowledgment, judgment/judgment


 * "gh"
 * as /f/: cough, laugh, enough, rough, tough
 * as /g/: ghetto, ghost, spaghetti
 * silent "gh": although, daughter, fight, high, light, might, neighbor, night, right, though, thought, through, throughout, weight
 * See also: Decoding exercises: "gh"


 * "gn"
 * as /gn/: ignore, pregnant, recognize, signal, significant
 * as /n/, see § Silent "g"
 * in words of French and Italian origin (see also IPA phonetic symbol [ɲ] )
 * as /nj/: cognac, gnocchi, lasagna, lasagne, poignant
 * as /n/: champagne


 * "ng" normally sounds /ŋ/ and it can sound /ŋg/. See Decoding exercises: "ng".