How to Pronounce the Letter A: American English

ESL: How to Pronounce the letter A: there are many different sounds that this letter can represent!

Improve your American Accent / spoken English at Rachel's English with video-based lessons and exercises.

Cải thiện nói tiếng Anh Mỹ / 미국 영어 발음 향상 / 話されているアメリカ英語を向上させる / Сделай свой разговорный американский английский лучше / Meningkatkan berbicara bahasa Inggris Amerika / Melhorar a fala Inglês Americano / Mejorar el habla Inglés Americano / 美語 / बात अमेरिकी अंग्रेजी में सुधार / تحسين لهجتك الأمريكية الإنجليزية

...with Rachel's English!

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[rachelsenglish]

I have lived in a Spanish speaking country and in Germany. German is my strongest second language, but it's not as strong now that I've been back in the US for 3 years! I also studied French and Italian pronunciation when I studied classical voice.

[RayAdamsCanada]

Is that why non-native English speakers have an accent. Cause there is no general rule of word-sound correspondence exist.

[rachelsenglish]

That word "a" is always the schwa in speech, unless it is being stressed. People do different things with speech when singing, I wouldn't use it as a model.
Best, Rachel

[rachelsenglish]

I will look into making a video on this topic!

[thecrazyandthewild]

And when "a" is alone like "a book". I notice that sometimes people pronounced "ei" in some cases but normally I think I hear "A" sound.
Thanks so much!

[rachelsenglish]

It's the upside-down 'e', also called the schwa.

[MrZen]

Watching a video to learn how to pronounce well the letter "a", expecting some tiring but logical rule, and finally hearing "It depends"...

[Alchemist]

Thanks for considering our long time memory in your videos and repeating necessary stuff.
you're the best English teacher I've ever had.

[antonioramos]

Thanks you Mrs. Rachel. Your explanation is very good

[JamieHince]

Hi !
Could you please explain (or make a video) why sometimes in English the letter "a" is pronounced "ə" or "eɪ"
Read this sentence if you want an example : there's a house.
Most americans say "there is 'ə' house" but sometimes i have heard "there is 'eɪ' house" as the singer Sufjan Steven does in its song called Borderline.
I am looking forward to receiving your answer! This a question I've asked myself for so long!

[yagnasrecipees]

Rachel your video, "How to Pronounce the Letter A", is very informative.

[mottahead]

As I wrote on my last comment, children seem to learn the basic sounds (words) first and then they start to integrate them into basic phrase patterns. Once they have memorised enough basic phrase patterns they can do a lot more just by changing the vocabulary they use in these patterns. And of course, as they grow older and go to school they go on improving the complexity of their phrase patterns along with their vocabulary.
Isn't it a more natural way to learn a foreign language?

[tatianalevchenko]

the additional difficulty for non-natives is that Americans and the British pronounce 'a' differently, hence they even use a different phonetic transcription systems! Americans use one of their own, while the Brits use the international one, as far as I know. Correct me if I'm wrong )

[rodrigoalcantara]

Funny, in my native language, Brazilian Portuguese, the letter A only has two sounds: the /a/ pretty similar to
/ɑ/ as in father. And the sound /ɐ/ pretty similar to /ə/ in the word about or /ʌ/ in the word butter.
Anyway, that was a really Intresting video and it just proves that we can't always trust on spelling since in English, most often spelling and pronunciation don't match. That's just crazy and intresting at the same time.

[RrockCj]

*And what about the **_"ʌ"_** sound?*

[tammywilson]

how do you pronounce the word "a" in a sentence?

[dimasleandro]

Fantastic. Teacher. You fantastic. I 💘.

[Tonatiuth]

As a spanish speaker this variations on the letter's pronunciation does not make sense at all.

[samurai]

We have so much for learn good english!!!!, thanks Rachel

[rachelsenglish]

Definitely 'uh' -- it's the schwa sound. :)