Pronunciation of A: Learn American English

English Pronunciation: A Sounds

There are 3 main sounds that American English speakers make with the A vowel. But there are also two more that will be shown here.

Short A: the sound in the word "cat." Lips are pulled back and the throat is a little tight. This sound is an American sound. It is not used as much in other languages or British English. Spelling: simple (usually no silent letters).

Long A: the same as the sound of the letter: A. Spelling is complex--a silent letter, such as E or I is nearby.

Open A: the "ah" sound that is used in British English. It is the singer's sound or the sound you make at the doctor when your throat is checked. Common spellings: "al," "ar" and "wa."*

An/m: When A is next to N or M, it sounds like the sound between a Long A and a Short A with a Y at the end. "And" sounds like A(y)nd with a very small Y.

Schwa: This is the simplest vowel and the most common sound in our language. It is the "u" sound in "up" and in phonetics, it is an upside down "e." Spelling: usually "a" when the syllable is not stressed, as in "about."

*"Al" has two sounds, the short A as in "Albert" and the open A as in "all." "Ar" also has two sounds: the long A as in "parent" and the open A as in "car." With the "wa" spelling--there are many exceptions in common words, i.e."was" sounds like "wuz" and "war" sounds like "wore."

Short A

Long A

Open A

An/m

Schwa

Name

All

And

About

Have

Say

Want

Can

Again

Had

Same

Also

Against

Has

Play

Small

Land

Machine

Add

Way

Water

Animal

Above

Act

Make

Call

Stand

Final

Ask

Day

Saw

Answer

Special

Language

Change

Walk

Man

Island

After

Page

Always

Plant

Ago

Back

May

Fall

Plan

Among

Last

Take

Watch

Family

Example

Place

Talk

Map

Made

Than

Black

Came

Class

Late

Happen

Care

Fact

Carry

Half

Rain

Pass

Base

Fast

Lay

Travel

Wait

Laugh

Face

The Long A sound is the most common. Here are some more words with the long A sound: able, contain, gave, tail, stay, area, table, plane, age, game, shape, state, plain

Practice saying these words with the A sounds: wax, wait, wall, wham, was and mad, made, mall, ma'am, massage.
The sounds go in order of the columns in the chart: short A, long A, open A, An/m, Schwa.

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