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'.