/eɪ/as in “say”

Vowel

How to pronounce /eɪ/ in English

The /eɪ/ sound is a high-mid, tense, front vowel.

  • Diphthong
  • Front

Note: The tip of your tongue can also be placed just behind your bottom front teeth.

Example words

Common mistakes

Gliding vowels

  • /eɪ/ came out as a single vowel: "late" sounded like "let". Glide up towards "i" at the end.
  • /oʊ/ came out as a single vowel. Round your lips further as you finish.

How to practise

  1. These are gliding vowels: the tongue moves during the sound.
  2. /eɪ/ glides from "e" towards "i": "day".
  3. /oʊ/ glides from "o" towards "u", with the lips rounding more: "go".

Easily confused words

  • late · let
  • pain · pen
  • sale · sell
  • coat · cot
  • note · not

Practise /eɪ/ with Letty

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