How to Pronounce the /i/ Sound In American English
In this lesson, we are going to learn how the sound /i/ is produced by looking at the articulatory organs.
What Type of Sound Is /i/?
/i/ is a long vowel sound as if you are saying "he," or "she."
How to Produce /i/?
To produce it, as in the picture, open your mouth slightly, stretch apart the corner of your lips as you are smiling, and make the long /i/ sound. Notice that the lips are unrounded.
Which Letters are Pronounced as /i/?
The sound /i/ is represented by the following letters:
y:
happy /ˈhæpi/
candy /ˈkændi/
i:
police /pəˈliːs/
taxi /ˈtæk.si/
e:
me /miː/
he /hiː/
ie:
Barbie /ˈbɑɹbi/
thief /θiːf/
ee:
three /θriː/
need /niːd/
ea:
leave /liːv/
each /iːtʃ/
ei:
ceiling /ˈsiːlɪŋ/
receipt /ɹɪˈsiːt/
Tip!
As you have seen before in the examples, When two dots come after the sound as in /iː/, It indicates that it is pronounced as a long vowel sound, not as a short or weak sound.
/i/ Around the World
As you see in the table below, all common languages around the world have this sound; therefore you will not have any problem producing it.
Existence | Example | |
|---|---|---|
Mandarin | ✔ | 李 (Lǐ) |
Spanish | ✔ | piso |
Hindi | ✔ | जीतना |
Bengali | ✔ | দিন |
Portuguese | ✔ | si |
Russian | ✔ | и́ли |
Japanese | ✔ | いる |
Vietnamese | ✔ | khi |
Turkish | ✔ | çivi |
French | ✔ | si |
German | ✔ | ihm |
Italian | ✔ | sì |
Persian | ✔ | شیر |
Standard Arabic | ✔ | فی |
Korean | ✔ | 흰색 |
Indonesian | ✔ | ini |
Filipino | ✔ | sinat |
Hungarian | ✔ | visz |
Dutch | ✔ | diep |
Polish | ✔ | piwo |
Romanian | ✔ | mie |
Swedish | ✔ | sil |
Czech | ✔ | klít |
Greek | ✔ | ίδιος |
Ukrainian | ✔ | кіт |
Urdu | ✔ | جیتنا |
Listening
Let us listen to the pronunciation of the /i/ sound which has been mentioned below:
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