Lessons Unit 1, lesson 4

ʌ as in cup

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?

ˈriːdread Stressed part — say it louder & longer.

təto Weak word — say it quickly & softly.

∅e Silent letter — don’t pronounce it.

θth Underline — these letters spell one sound.

wa·ter Dot · — a syllable break.

go‿on Linked — blend the words together.

?↗︎↘︎ Arrows — voice rises ↗︎ or falls ↘︎.

ˈsɛvən7 Number — how to say it aloud.

read² ² mark — has a second pronunciation.

guess? ? mark — a best guess; double-check it.

Want the full walkthrough? Read the map explains every mark, with practice.

ʌthe u in cup

Let everything relax — jaw loose, lips doing nothing. A short sound from the middle of your body: uh — cup, sun. If it feels like almost no effort, it's right.

cup

sun

bus

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.

fun

jump

run

mother

thumb

Two sounds that get mixed up

Many learners swap this vowel with æ (cat) or with the schwa ə. The difference from æ is the jaw — cup needs a much smaller mouth opening than cat, with the tongue pulled back toward the center. The difference from schwa is stress: this vowel appears in stressed syllables, so it should sound a touch stronger and clearer, even though it's short.

A quick self-test

Say cup next to cap. If your mouth barely moves between them, open less on cup and pull the sound toward the back of your throat. Try bus against bass the same way.

Spellings that hide this vowel

The classic spelling is u in a closed syllable — cup, sun, bus, fun, jump, run, us. But English also spells it with o (mother) and with u before a silent letter (thumb), so don't assume the letter always tells you the sound.