LoginHow to Pronounce the /ɪ/ Sound
Explore the /ɪ/ sound, a key vowel in English. Learn its articulation, common patterns, and practice techniques to master its use in various contexts.
In this lesson, we are going to learn how the sound /ɪ/ is produced by looking at the articulatory organs.
What Type of Sound Is /ɪ/?
/ɪ/ is similar to the /i/ but always shorter. It sounds somehow between /i/ and /e/.
How to Produce /ɪ/?
Mouth Configuration for /ɪ/
To produce it, as you see in the picture, lower your jaw, and open your mouth slightly, and stretch out the corner of your lips just a little bit as if you are smiling. Notice that the lips are ungrounded. As you can see in the picture, the mouth is slightly more open than when producing the /iː/ sound. However, note that when saying /ɪ/ your lips are wider than when saying the /e/ sound.
Which Letters are Pronounced as /ɪ/?
/ɪ/ Around the World
As you see in the table below, most of the common languages around the world do not have this sound; therefore you will need a little practice to produce it.
| Existence | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Mandarin | x | - |
| Spanish | x | - |
| Hindi | ✔ | जितना |
| Bengali | x | - |
| Portuguese | x | - |
| Russian | ✔ | лиса́ |
| Japanese | x | - |
| Vietnamese | x | - |
| Turkish | x | - |
| French | x | - |
| German | ✔ | ist |
| Italian | x | - |
| Persian | x | - |
| Standard Arabic | x | - |
| Korean | x | - |
| Indonesian | x | - |
| Filipino | ✔ | iták |
| Hungarian | x | - |
| Dutch | ✔ | vis |
| Polish | x | - |
| Romanian | x | - |
| Swedish* | ✔ | sill |
| Czech | ✔ | byl |
| Greek | x | - |
| Ukrainian | ✔ | ми́ша |
| Urdu | ✔ | جِتنا |
* Sweden Swedish has this sound.
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