Pronouncing 'short e' in American English
Introduction to Short Vowels > How to pronounce 'short e' /ɛ/ > Common 'short e' /ɛ/ spellings > Practice pronouncing 'short e' /ɛ/
Welcome to this Seattle Learning Academy video lesson.
The short e /ɛ/ sounds like (short e). It's the vowel sound in the word bed /b ɛ d/.
How to Pronounce the short e Sound
The short e is a relatively quick, relaxed sound. The body of the tongue rounds slightly upward. You'll probably be able to feel your top and bottom side teeth with the sides of your tongue.
(short e) bed /b ɛ d/
(short e) bed /b ɛ d/
Repeat the /ɛ/ sound after me: (short e).
Our /ɛ/ key word is bed, bed.
Common Spellings
The /ɛ/ sound has two common spellings: the consonant-e-consonant spelling and the e-a spelling.
Examples of consonant-e-consonant are:
bed
send
dress
Remember that the initial consonant is not necessary for the consonant-e-consonant spelling. So if I have a /ɛ/ sound in the word send, I'll also have it in the word end.
Examples of the /ɛ/ sound spelled e-a are the words:
head
bread
heaven
Be carful with the e-a spelling, though, because it's also used to spell the long e /i/ sound (long e), as in the words dream and speak.
Non-phonetic Words
Some non-phonetic /ɛ/ words are surprising for learners. Remember, non-phonetic words are words whose pronunciation can't be predicted based on spelling.
Non-phonetic /ɛ/ words include:
says
said
friend
guess
guest
Practice
- said
- says
- friend
- guest
- guess
- when
- them
- head
- end
- best
- test
- red
- less
- rest
- help
- edge
- better
- ahead
- success
Thank you for watching this Seattle Learning Academy video lesson.
Exit: Guess what her friend said.