The English alphabet has 26 letters. Five of these letters (a, e, i, o, and u) are called “vowels.” Vowels are sounds that are made using your voice. The air is not stopped in any way. You make the unique sound of each vowel by changing the shape of your mouth.

5 Letters Can Make 19 Sounds

The 5 vowel letters can make nineteen different vowel sounds in American English. We’re going to study them in two groups. Learn the short vowels first. Then, learn the long vowels and diphthongs. “Diphthongs” is just a big word for two sounds that mix together to make a new sound.

Start With Short Vowels

Start with the short vowels, because they are more common and easier to learn!

First, listen to the recording and repeat the word after me.
Then, listen again and try to say the word with me, at the same time I say it. (This is called “shadowing,” and we’ll do a lot of this!)

When you have finished learning all the short vowel sounds, work on the long vowel sounds and diphthongs in the same way.

Again, these words all come from the book of John. If you aren’t sure of what these words mean, please take some time to look them up! I like to use a website called WordReference.com. It has extensive definitions and can even translate words from English into several languages to make it easier for you.

You can also try Google Translate, but be careful, because the machine translation may not be completely accurate.

Let’s Get Started!

Remember, many times it isn’t possible to look at an English word and know how it is pronounced. Many times the vowels cause the problem. The more you hear the word, the better you will know it! Then with practice, when you need to use it, it will be very easy for you.

Click on the buttons and get started learning American English vowels!