Lessons Unit 1, lesson 1
æ as in cat
One short vowel, on its own page. It is quick and short — hear it alone, then find it inside each word below, then say the words yourself.
What do the marks mean?
Want the full walkthrough? Read the map explains every mark, with practice.
æthe a in cat
Open your mouth wide and smile a little. It's short and flat: a, a — cat. Your jaw drops more than you think it should.
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.
Why this vowel trips people up
Many languages don't have this exact low, front vowel, so it's tempting to swap in a sound you already know. Say cat too tense and it drifts toward ɛ, sounding like "ket". Say it too relaxed and it drifts toward ʌ, sounding like "cut". The fix is the jaw: drop it further than feels natural, and keep your tongue low and forward, almost touching your bottom teeth.
Try the pair bat and bet. If they sound the same to your ear, exaggerate the jaw drop on bat until your mouth feels stretched wide.
Spellings that point to it
This sound almost always shows up as a single written a in a closed syllable — cat, hat, map, bag, sat, mad, fan, jam. One vowel letter, one consonant sound closing the syllable. Once a word opens up with a silent e or a second vowel, this sound usually disappears and you get a different vowel entirely.