Loginai In American English
'ai' as a digraph has five sounds that we are going to talk about here.
Digraphs are a set of two letters that stand together and produce a new sound.
Digraph | ai |
|---|---|
Name | ai (pronounced /ˈeɪ ˈaɪ/) |
Common Sound(s) | /eɪ/, /e/, /eə/, /ə/, /ɪ/, /æ/ |
The Digraph 'ai'
Sound 1: /eɪ/
'ai' standing in the middle of a word mainly sounds /eɪ/:
snail /sneɪl/
train /treɪn/
rain /reɪn/
claim /ˈkleɪm/
obtain /əbˈteɪn/
Tip!
'ai' can also stand at the beginning of these two words and sounds /eɪ/:
aid /eɪd/
aim /eɪm/
Sound 2: /e/
'ai' can also sound /e/ standing in the middle of words:
again /əˈɡen/
said /sed/
against /əˈɡenst/
Sound 3: /eə/
'ai' in the middle of words also sounds /eə/:
fair /ˈfeə.(r)/
dairy /ˈdeə.ri/
hair /ˈheə(r)/
chair /tʃeə(r)/
pair /peə(r)/
Tip!
The beginning 'ai' in the word air sounds /eə/ in British English:
air /eə(r)/
Sound 4: /ə/
'ai' in 'ain' can sound /ə/. Note that 'ain' must be positioned in the second syllable of words:
curtain /ˈkɜː.tən/
certain /ˈsɜː.tən/
villain /ˈvɪl.ən/
Sound 5: /ɪ/
'ai' can also sound /ɪ/ in 'ain' when it comes in the final syllable of a word:
bargain /ˈbɑː.ɡɪn/
mountain /ˈmaʊn.tɪn/
porcelain /ˈpɔː.səl.ɪn/
Sound 6: /æ/
'ai' also sounds /æ/:
plait /plæt/
plaid /plæd/
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