Long & Short Vowels
All the Vowels
Listen to the sound file and get a feel for this pattern of short versus long vowels. It is crucial that you understand this lesson. It dictates to the whole pronunciation system, and determines the spelling as well.
Note: Word examples are a mix of real and fake words.
1. Words above are broken into syllables.
2. A syllable ends on either a consonant or a vowel (a, e, o, i, u).
3. OPEN SYLLABLE -- the syllable ends in a vowel, the vowel pronunciation is LONG.
4. CLOSED SYLLABLE -- the syllable ends in a consonant, the vowel pronunciation is SHORT.
That is why the A in take (ta-ke) would be long, and the A in takke (tak-ke) would be short.
5. On single syllable words, like SIT, SOK, SAG, KUS, SET, etc. ending with the consonant, the vowel pronunciation is short. If you need a long pronunciation here, you would DOUBLE the vowel.
Examples:
tak > taak
slep > sleep
slop > sloop
slip > sliep
Note: there is no double 'ii'. So, 'ie' is used to represent the long 'i'.
A & AA
Short | Vowel | Long | Examples | ||
tak-ke kas-te mat-te | A | ta-ke ka-se ma-te | pakke - pake - pak - paak sakke - sake - sak - saak passe - pase - pas - paas kasse - kase - kas - kaas masse - mase - mas - maas |
E & EE
Short | Vowel | Long | Examples | ||
bed klets let-ter | E | be-de kle-re re-pe | lekke - leke - lek - leek bekke - beke - bek - beek messe - mese - mes - mees bette - bete - bet - beet lesse - lese - les - lees |
I & IE
Short | Vowel | Long | Examples | ||
min-ste kits lis-sie | I | mi-nus kri-sis li-sie | pikke - pike - pik - piek skimme - skime - skim - skiem mikke - mike - mik - miek sikke - sike - sik - siek tippe - tipe - tip - tiep |
O & OO
Short | Vowel | Long | Examples | ||
bot-te slot-te pot-te | O | bo-te slo-te po-te | bokke - boke - bok - book sotte - sote - sot - soot kotte - kote - kot - koot hotte - hote - hot - hoot losse - lose - los - loos |
U & UU
Short | Vowel | Long | Examples | ||
slur-pie rus-tig buk | U | u-nie mu-re bu-re | putte - pute - put - puut tukke - tuke - tuk - tuuk musse - muse - mus - muus lusse - luse - lus - luus busse - buse - bus - buus |
A-AA
Vowel | Syllable Breaks | The Word | With Prefixes | ||
A | ha-ke hak-ke pal paal pal-le pa-le | taak take tak takke hasse hase | verhaal onthak gedale bedalle vernap hernape | behaat verhat herhake verhakke vernap hernape |
E-EE
Vowel | Syllable Breaks | The Word | With Prefixes | ||
E | leek le-ke lek-ke seep se-pe sep-pe | pette ekke ete ette epe eppe | verlekker verees veresse besete ontese herlese | verenik verennik gebede herbedde belesse ontleke |
I-IE
Vowel | Syllable Breaks | The Word | With Prefixes | ||
I | piet pi-te pit-te piets ki-te kit-te | dienaar kittaar kitaar sippres sipres pieke | bedien hersite gekiet ontpitte verpit bepite | versien bekiem herskim ontskime verpit bepite |
O-OO
Vowel | Syllable Breaks | The Word | With Prefixes | ||
O | koop ko-pe kop-pe pool po-le pol-le | lotte sloot potte bote kolle kome | beslot hersloot ontslotte verklope hernote verkotte | vermose ontmokke herlope verlokke hernote verkotte |
U-UU
Vowel | Syllable Breaks | The Word | With Prefixes | ||
U | kuul ku-le kul-le muus mu-se mus-se | suur tuut sure sutte nutte pukke | versuur bemure hernutte ontkusse herlusse vermuke | bepute geputte verhutte herhute verbuk gebuuk |