Lessons Unit 1, lesson 10
ɑː as in father
One long vowel, on its own page. The ː mark means hold it — hear it alone, then in the words, then say them yourself.
What do the marks mean?
Want the full walkthrough? Read the map explains every mark, with practice.
ɑːthe a in father
Open wide and let the tongue rest low: aaah — the sound the doctor asks for. father, calm.
Now say it yourself
Read each word from its sheet, out loud, three times. Where there's a play button, listen first and copy what you hear. Slow is fine — speaking clearly matters more than speaking fast. Tap a word's microphone to record yourself and see which sounds landed.
Check your pronunciation, on this device. The first use downloads a small AI listener (about 40 MB, one time, then it's cached). Your voice is analyzed here in your browser — it never leaves your device.
Not the same as cat
Don't let the spelling fool you — the a in father is nothing like the a in cat. This is a long, open, back vowel: drop your jaw fully, pull your tongue low and back, and hold the sound. If father sounds tense or nasal, you're pulling your tongue too far forward, toward æ.
Where you'll see this spelling
The clearest signal is al before m, where the l goes silent: calm, palm. It also shows up as plain a in open or lightly closed syllables, as in father and spa, and before r in art and arm. In American English this same long, open sound is also how most speakers say short o words like hot, cot, top, and odd — so father and bother rhyme for most Americans, even though they don't in many other English accents.