Lessons Unit 1, lesson 31

g as in go

One consonant, on its own page. Hear it, watch where it sits in each word's sheet, 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.

gthe g in go

Made at the back of the mouth, like k but with your voice on. Put a hand on your throat: g buzzes, k doesn't.

bag

egg

glad

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.

grab

leg

dog

good

girl

goat

Switch on the buzz

g and k are made in the same place, at the back of the mouth, but g adds a buzz from your voice while k stays breathy. Say go with a hand on your throat and feel the hum start right as the tongue releases.

At the end of a word like bag or egg, keep that buzz alive, even briefly, so it doesn't collapse into the voiceless k sound.

Two letters, two sounds

The letter g doesn't always make this hard, back-of-mouth sound — in words like gem it shifts to a completely different sound, covered in its own lesson later in this unit.

Here, stick to the hard g in glad, girl, and goat: tongue back, voice on, no puff of air needed.

A useful self-test is pairing goat with an imagined voiceless twin — if you can turn the buzz off and land on the sound in coat, you've found the exact place your tongue should be.