Practice Your English Pronunciation /e/ vs /eɪ/ Vowel Sounds | Course #3

Hello, students.

This is Fanny.

Welcome to this English pronunciation video.

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

/e/ 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 /e/?

‘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 hear and pronounce them correctly.

So keep watching.

Get ready guys.

I'm gonna help you make these sounds

/e/ 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 /e/.

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

Okay, and your mouth and doesn't move.

/e/

Can you repeat after me?

/e/

/e/

/e/

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.

/eɪ/

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/

Let's practice with the word ‘late’.

Repeat after me.

late

late

late

Great job!

Let's now use minimal pairs.

So 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.

/e/

/e/

/e/

/eɪ/

/eɪ/

/eɪ/

/e/

/eɪ/

/e/

/eɪ/

/e/

/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 /e/ 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.

‘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 word.

‘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 /e/ 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 /e/ 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.