Combination of vowels

If we put vowels together, we'll have different sounds:

Here are the most common ones.

The rule is "when two vowels walk, the first one talks" - this means that the first vowel's name (the long vowel) is the sound that wins!

ai as in rain
ea as in tea
oa as in goat
ay as in day
_y as in fly
_igh_ as in night
_a_e as in cake
i_e as in like

Of course there are exceptions, and they just have to be learned, like

_ir_ as in bird, first, t-shirt...


And there are two other combinations, easier for you to remember:

oo - as in moon
ee - as in sheep

Confusing? Theory often is. Practice is more efficient, so go on and practice here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/wordsandpictures/longvow/poems/fpoem.shtml