How to Pronounce the /e/ Sound

In this lesson, we are going to learn how the sound /e/ is produced by looking at the articulatory organs.

What Type of Sound Is /e/?

/e/ is a close-mid sound and is found in many words.

How to Produce /e/?

Mouth Configuration for /e/

As you see in the picture, /e/ is produced when you open your mouth slightly as if you are saying "eh," and the lips must be unrounded to make a short /e/ sound. The teeth are not close like in the sound /i/ and we open the mouth a bit more than when we want to produce the /æ/ sound.

Which Letters are Pronounced as /e/?

The sound /e/ is represented by the following letters:

Pie Chart of the Letters that Make the /e/ Sound

away /əˈweɪ/

anyone /ˈeniwʌn/

well /wel/

tell /tel/

/e/ Around the World

As you see in the table below, all the common languages around the world have this sound; therefore you will not have any difficulty producing it.

	Existence	Example
Mandarin¹	✔	也 (yě)
Spanish	✔	peso
Hindi	✔	जेब
Bengali	✔	মেদিনী
Portuguese	✔	meto
Russian	✔	пень
Japanese	✔	えき
Vietnamese	✔	về
Turkish	✔	erkek
French	✔	chez
German	✔	Element
Italian	✔	vero
Persian	✔	که
Standard Arabic	✔	شَرِبَ
Korean	✔	메주
Indonesian	✔	serong
Filipino	✔	eh
Hungarian	✔	él
Dutch	✔	ezel
Polish	x	-
Romanian	✔	erou
Swedish²	✔	fett
Czech	x	-
Greek	✔	θεός
Ukrainian	✔	ефі́рний
Urdu	✔	جیب

¹ The sound is close, but not identical.
² Finland Swedish has this sound.

Listening

Let us listen to the pronunciation of the /e/ sound which has been mentioned below:

Down below, there are two other sounds similar to the /e/ sound. At first, listen to the /æ/ sound and then listen to the /i/ sound:

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What Type of Sound Is /e/?
How to Produce /e/?
Which Letters are Pronounced as /e/?
/e/ Around the World
Listening

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