ai

Explore the English multigraph 'ai,' examining its various pronunciations in different words and contexts. Discover how 'ai' shapes English phonology.

'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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