/ɛ/ and /eɪ/ | Learn English Pronunciation | Minimal Pairs Practice

Hello, students.

This is Fanny.

Welcome to this English pronunciation video.

In this video we are going to focus on two English vowel sounds.

/ɛ/ and /eɪ/ These are two very important vowel sounds

in English.

And they sound different even though very similar.

Let's start with two example words.

The first word is ‘let’.

Can you hear the sound /ɛ/?

‘let’ The second word is ‘late’.

/eɪ/ ‘late’

So ‘let’ and ‘late’ I know to some of you they sound exactly the

same.

But with a little bit of practice you will hear the difference,

so keep watching.

By the end of this video, I promise you will improve your hearing and

pronunciation of these two vowel sounds.

Get ready guys.

I'm gonna help you make these sounds /ɛ/ and /eɪ/ in English.

I want you to hear the difference and to be able to pronounce them correctly.

Also, it's very important to know the IPA spelling,

watch how I move my mouth, and as usual repeat after me.

I know that you can master these sounds, so let's get to it.

First, let's learn how to make the sound /ɛ/.

So your tongue is in the middle part of your mouth.

Okay, and your mouth and doesn't move.

Can you repeat after me?

/ɛ/ /ɛ/

/ɛ/ Let's now practice with a word please.

Repeat after me.

let let

let For the sound /eɪ/.

It's a little bit trickier.

It's what we call a diphthong.

So it's actually two vowel sounds combined.

So as you can see, your mouth moves and your tongue goes up a

little as you produce the sound /eɪ/.

Can you repeat after me?

/eɪ/ /eɪ/

/eɪ/

With the word ‘late’.

Repeat after me.

late late

late Great job!

Let's now use minimal pairs.

Words that are extremely similar but the vowel sounds change.

They're a very good way to practice your vowel sounds.

First let's just practice the sounds.

So watch how my mouth moves and repeat after me.

/ɛ/ /ɛ/

/ɛ/ /eɪ/

/eɪ/ /eɪ/

/ɛ/ /eɪ/

/ɛ/ /eɪ/

/ɛ/ /eɪ/

Let's now use our words ‘let’ and ‘late’.

Repeat after me.

let let

let late

late late

let late

let late

let late

Excellent job.

Guys, let's now find out about other minimal pairs.

I'm gonna read them to you.

I want you to repeat after me and pay attention to my mouth and how it moves.

Let's go.

chess chase

beck bake

bed bade

bell bail

best based

bet bait

bled blade

bread braid

breast braced

debt date

edge age

etch H

fed fade

fell fail

fleck flake

fret freight

gel jail

get gate

hell hail

Ken cane

L ale

led laid

lens lanes

less lace

M aim

men main

mess mace

met mate

pen pain

pent paint

pest paste

pled played

red raid

rest raced

S ace

sell sale

sent saint

set sate

shed shade

shell shale

special spatial

sped spade

tech take

tell tale

tent taint

test taste

tread trade

trend trained

wed wade

wedge wage

well whale

west waist

wet wait

when wane

wreck rake

wren rain

X aches

Excellent guys.

Let's move on.

Ok let's continue practicing.

Now I'm going to show you some words and I want you to read them with the proper

English vowel sound /ɛ/ and /eɪ/

Let's get started.

Let's start with the first word.

Is it ‘bed’ or ‘bade’?

It's ‘bed’ of course.

Next word.

‘fell’ or ‘fail’?

Which one is it?

It's ‘fail’.

Next word.

‘test’?

‘taste’?

It’s ‘taste’.

Guys, next word.

‘men’?

‘main’?

‘main’ Next word.

‘ren’?

‘rain’?

It's ‘rain’.

Next ‘sell’ or ‘sale’?

It's ‘sell’.

Next word.

‘test’?

‘taste’?

Which one is it?

In this case, it's ‘test’.

Next.

‘men’?

‘main’?

It's ‘men’.

Next word.

‘sell’ or ‘sale’?

‘sale’ of course.

And finally, ‘when’ or ‘wane’?

It's ‘when’.

Very good.

Great job guys.

Let's carry on.

Okay guys let's now practice with sentences.

I have sentences containing /ɛ/ and /eɪ/sounds.

So pay attention and repeat after me.

The first sentence is: ‘Ken made cakes well.’

The second sentence: ‘Tell him to send red paint.’

And finally: ‘Men fed a whale in the rain.’

Great guys.

Let's continue on.

Great job guys.

You now have a better understanding of the difference

between the English vowel sounds /ɛ/ and /eɪ/.

But keep practicing.

It takes time and practice of listening and speaking to master the vowel sounds.

But you can do it.

Also make sure you watch the rest of my pronunciation videos.

Very important if you want to master the English language.

See you next time.

Thank you so much guys for watching my video.

if you've liked it, show me your support.

Click ‘like’.

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See you.